If you thought former Marine General, former Secretary of Homeland Security, and current White House Chief of Staff John Kelly was “the adult in the room” in the West Wing, we need to have a little talk. Not only is Kelly just as petty and childish as everyone else in the Trump administration, but the effects of his asinine behavior are almost worse — since they come from someone that most expect to act differently.
What the Wall Street Journal just reported, however, is a whole new level of foolishness.
Perhaps you remember an incident last year when Donald Trump was on his Asian tour and in the middle of his visit to Beijing when there was a “skirmish” involving the “nuclear football” — a 45-pound briefcase containing equipment and instructions necessary for the US President to carry out a nuclear attack in case of an emergency — which was being carried (per protocol) by an aide to the President.
The aide carrying the briefcase was blocked from following Trump into a room by Chinese security during the visit, which set off a chain of physical interactions that ended with John Kelly shoving away a Chinese security official and a Secret Service agent tackling that official to the ground.
In the end, the Chinese official apologized to Kelly, but being as he’s part of an administration that thinks it is above any sort of normal treatment, the new report in the WSJ details that Kelly refused the apology “unless it occurred under a US flag in Washington, DC.”
The scuffle had been previously reported by Axios‘ Jonathan Swan. But Kelly’s involvement, including the refusal of the Chinese official’s apology, was unknown until now.
The relationship between the US and China is tense, to say the least, despite the fact that Trump publicly praises Chinese President Xi Jinping at seemingly every opportunity. Tariffs imposed by Trump and retaliatory tariffs from China continue to escalate, regardless of the harm to American citizens.
The White House had not responded to requests for comment, but it’s clear that the calm and smooth organization Trump tried so hard to privately convince reporter Olivia Nuzzi of just days ago is a thin facade.
Featured image via screen capture
