Former Republican tells John Kelly to step up and do more to stop Donald Trump
If they've seen the light and want to stop Trump 2.0, they need to "roll up their sleeves" and start speaking out.
Former Republican strategist and Bullwark writer Tim Miller is taking to task some of the folks who once paid allegiance to Donald Trump and have since determined he poses a threat to the presidency and the country.
"Yes, these people who were around Trump and saw the threat and can speak to the threat. They can move the needle, but they do need to work together and they do need to be part of a campaign to stop him," said Miller. "And it's not going to be easy."
Miller appeared with MSNBC's Alicia Menendez and addressed the change of hearts amongst some of the pivotal players in the 45th president's cabinet and staff.
“What’s going on in the country that a single person thinks this guy would still be a good president when he’s said the things he’s said and done the things he’s done?” John Kelly, the longest-serving chief of staff in President Donald Trump’s White House, said in a recent interview, according to the Washington Post. “It’s beyond my comprehension he has the support he has.”
The retired four-star general was confused that after he shed some light on Trump's behind-the-scenes statements and actions, it barely made a blip in the American discourse.
“I came out and told people the awful things he said about wounded soldiers, and it didn’t have half a day’s bounce. You had his attorney general Bill Barr come out, and not a half a day’s bounce. If anything, his numbers go up."
"It might even move the needle in the wrong direction. I think we’re in a dangerous zone in our country,” he said.
Miller scolded Kelly and others who are airing grievances over counting on the red meat-consuming news cycle rather than getting out there consistently and for the long haul to drive home their insider perspectives. He encouraged them to do ads, appear at events and stay in the spotlight beyond their op-eds in the New York Times.
"If you complain, 'I only have half a day's bounce,' that's because you only did one interview," said Miller. "We have a very real threat in front of us with Donald Trump... and so the response needs to be up to the degree of the threat. And I haven't seen that from a lot of the people who went to work for him, who are dismayed."
For Miller, the answer is to get going on a battlefield to win each day until next November.
"I think that there could be a very compelling, very convincing, very effective campaign to stop [Trump] from the people who were in his cabinet last time," he said. "But they're going to have to roll up their sleeves and do some work and not just sit on one panel at Aspen and think that's going to do the job."
