October Surprise: John Kelly Telling You Something!

John Kelly reacts to a second Trump term.

Grab 'em by... 2.O!

The New York Times and The Atlantic dropped back to back shockers.

Former White House Chief of Staff to former president Donald J. Trump, John Kelly sat for an interview and told the Times his thoughts about a second Trump term.

Trump allegedly wanted loyal military members like Adolf Hitler. Kelly had to correct him numerous times about his fondness of Hitler.

Kelly, a retired general, confirmed to him personally that Trump said he admired Hitler. Hours after that bombshell, The New York Times published audio of an interview with Kelly in which he revealed Trump repeatedly praised Hitler and even said, “Hitler did some good things.”

The Atlantic credits Peter Baker and Susan Glasser for first reporting in their book, The Divider: Trump in the White House, that while in office, Trump asked Kelly, “Why can’t you be like the German generals?”

Kelly said that Trump seriously believes in authoritarian policies. I mean he did say "the enemy within" when describing critics of him. He has thought of using the military on protesters and political critics. He threatened to strip CBS News of its FCC title after he got riled up over conspiracy theories regarding his Democratic opponent's interview on 60 Minutes.

The Atlantic did the most damaging. In the wake of U.S. Army private Vanessa Guillén passing away after being beaten and sexually assaulted by a former private. He committed suicide and his girlfriend at the time is facing criminal charges. The girlfriend burned Guillén’s body, which was discovered buried near the base two months later. Trump invited Guillén’s family to the White House and pledged to personally help them with the costs.

Vanessa Guillén.

The former president honored her by personally paying for funeral expenses.

Well the funeral happened and Trump was looking at the expenses. Known for saying some really insulting things about women, immigrants and lawmakers who oppose him, Trump had said her funeral was expensive. He said a degarotory remark about Guillén.

In an Oval Office meeting on December 4, 2020, officials gathered to discuss a separate national-security issue. Toward the end of the discussion, the lame duck and still fuming about his election loss Trump asked for an update on the Army secretary Ryan McCarthy investigation. Christopher Miller, the acting secretary of defense (Trump had fired his predecessor, Mark Esper, three weeks earlier, writing in a tweet, “Mark Esper has been terminated”), was in attendance, along with Miller’s chief of staff, Kash Patel. At a certain point, according to two people present at the meeting, Trump asked, “Did they bill us for the funeral? What did it cost?”

According to attendees, and to contemporaneous notes of the meeting taken by a participant, an aide answered: Yes, we received a bill; the funeral cost $60,000.

Trump became angry. “It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!” He turned to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and issued an order: “Don’t pay it!” Later that day, he was still agitated. “Can you believe it?” he said, according to a witness. “Fucking people, trying to rip me off.”

Vanessa Guillén's sister (left) claims the story is false.

Natalie Khawam, the family attorney, told me she sent the bill to the White House, but no money was ever received by the family from Trump. Some of the costs, Khawam said, were covered by the Army (which offered, she said, to allow Guillén to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery) and some were covered by donations. Ultimately, Guillén was buried in Houston.

Jeffrey Goldberg wrote the piece and it rocked MAGAland. It came out around 6pm on Tuesday. It distracted from Eminem's endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. It distracted from the McDonald's e-coli outbreak. Trump did a publicity stunt on Sunday. He worked at a Pennsylvania McDonald's to dispute Harris' stint working at one. It distracts from the stock market rallies that show that President Joe Biden did a very good job with economy. It distracts from the war crimes Israel is committing. It distracts from North Korean soliders joining Russian forces in their war in Ukraine. It also comes as Trump is being rooted on by Israeli, North Korean and Russian leaders who believe he will give them everything they want. It distracts from Harris campaign stop in Texas to boast Rep. Collin Allred (D-TX) in his race against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

Trump, his loyal former White House advisors and the campaign denied the allegations. Guillen's sister who is backing Trump is disputing it. 

Trump has disparaged military leaders in the past. He attacked John McCain, George H.W. Bush, Adam Kinzinger, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and other veterans.

Alyssa Farah Griffin had heard Trump call dead soliders "suckers and losers."