In the Trump administration’s desperation to deflect attention from federal charges being filed against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his longtime business partner and former campaign adviser Rick Gates, and former foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, Chief of Staff John Kelly spoke to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham about – yet again – the removal of Confederate statues.
Chief of Staff John Kelly praises Robert E Lee as "honorable man," says "lack of an ability to compromise led to the civil war," not slavery pic.twitter.com/GSuVRrGKlQ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 31, 2017
Chelsea Clinton, however, took it upon herself to set the White House Chief of Staff straight and condemn his misguided history.
General Kelly, there is no “compromise” regarding slavery. Ever. And, the Constitution’s original 3/5ths Compromise was an abomination. https://t.co/THMjrBhxmI
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) October 31, 2017
Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederacy, was a glorified traitor to the United States, nearly tearing the country apart in an effort to maintain the institution of slavery. Furthermore, while Kelly claims that the “lack of an ability to compromise” led to the Civil War, he left out the fact that the difference on which both sides were unwilling to compromise was whether states should be admitted into the Union as free states or slave states.
Kelly’s remarks tonight, then, are, at best, a testament to Kelly’s ignorance of basic American history and, at worst, a tacit endorsement of slavery. Either way, the White House Chief of Staff should be ashamed of his comments.
Unfortunately, Kelly’s comments are par for the course of the most flagrantly xenophobic, homophobic, racist, and misogynistic administration in modern American history. From Trump’s defense of “both sides” at the Charlottesville rally to this administration’s desperation to preserve the most shameful monuments of our nation’s past, this White House has not been shy about exactly who they are.
Their abhorrent ideals are not, however, what the United States of America represents, a fact that Chelsea Clinton wasted no time imparting.
