NBC News : Top Adviser Called Trump An "Idiot"
Kelly thinks he's saving U.S. from disaster, calls Trump 'idiot,' say White House staffers
WASHINGTON — White House chief of staff John Kelly has eroded morale in the West Wing in recent months with comments to aides that include insulting the president's intelligence and casting himself as the savior of the country, according to eight current and former White House officials.
The officials said Kelly portrays himself to Trump administration aides as the lone bulwark against catastrophe, curbing the erratic urges of a president who has a questionable grasp on policy issues and the functions of government. He has referred to Trump as "an idiot" multiple times to underscore his point, according to four officials who say they've witnessed the comments.
Three White House spokespeople said they don't believe it's accurate that Kelly called the president an "idiot," adding that none of them has ever heard him do that or otherwise use that word.
Officials said Kelly's public image as a retired four-star general instilling discipline on a chaotic White House and an impulsive president belies what they describe as the undisciplined and indiscreet approach he's employed as chief of staff. The private manner aides describe may shed new light on why Kelly now finds himself — just nine months into the job — grappling with diminished influence and a drumbeat of questions about how long he'll remain at the White House.
"He says stuff you can't believe," said one senior White House official. "He'll say it and you think, 'That is not what you should be saying.'"
President Donald Trump talks with then Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly during commencement exercises at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on May 17, 2017. Susan Walsh / AP file Trump, who aides said has soured on his second chief of staff, is aware of some though not all of Kelly's comments, according to the current and former officials.
The White House spokespeople said they haven't heard Kelly talk about himself as the one saving the country, and that if anything he may have spoken in jest along those lines.
Presidential historian Michael Beschloss said Kelly's comments about Trump, when compared to previous White House chiefs of staff, "suggest a lack of respect for the sitting president of a kind that we haven't seen before." Beschloss said the closest similarity would be President Ronald Reagan's chief of staff during his second term, Don Regan, who "somewhat looked down on" his boss and eventually lost the support of the staff and the president. Regan was replaced after two years by Howard Baker.
The last time it became public that one of Trump's top advisers insulted his intelligence behind his back, it didn't go over well with the president. White House aides have said Trump never got over former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson calling him a "moron" in front of colleagues , which was first reported by NBC News. Trump later challenged Tillerson to an IQ test and fired him several months after the remark became public.
Current and former White House officials said Kelly has at times made remarks that have rattled female staffers. Kelly has told aides multiple times that women are more emotional than men, including at least once in front of the president, four current and former officials said.
And during a firestorm in February over accusations of domestic abuse against then-White House staff secretary Rob Porter, Kelly wondered aloud how much more Porter would have to endure before his honor could be restored, according to three officials who were present for the comments. He also questioned why Porter's ex-wives wouldn't just move on based on the information he said he had about his marriages, the officials said.
Some current and former White House officials said they expect Kelly to leave by July, his one-year mark. But others say it's anyone's guess. What's clear is both Trump and Kelly seem to have tired of each other.
"Kelly appears to be less engaged, which may be to the president's detriment," a second senior White House official said.
Kelly has maintained at least two close allies in the West Wing — Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, and White House counsel Don McGahn, current and former officials said.
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Staff Secretary Rob Porter follow President Donald Trump as he boards Marine One at the White House on Nov. 29, 2017. Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images file The White House spokespeople conceded that Trump gets frustrated at times with Kelly, particularly when he feels Kelly is not giving him all the information he needs and wants. They said Kelly and Trump have an open, candid relationship.
The spokespeople disputed that staff has lost confidence in Kelly, saying he's still chief of staff so when he issues an order aides comply and that "for the most part the staff still respects and genuinely likes Kelly."
The White House spokespeople said they haven't seen Kelly have a negative effect on the morale of women staffers. If anything, they said during meetings Kelly is the "bigger gentleman" who steps in when aides use foul language to note "a lady is present" and similarly says he shouldn't use foul language in front of a lady if he's used an expletive. The spokespeople, who would not speak for the record, said it's possible Kelly may have said women are more emotional than men, with one of them agreeing that "generally speaking, women are more emotional than men."
"WE'VE GOT TO SAVE HIM FROM HIMSELF"
Kelly entered the White House with a mandate to instill order in a West Wing where aides regularly had unfettered access to the president. He adopted some key changes, such as shrinking the number of people in meetings and limiting access to the Oval Office.
He has also pushed back against the president on some foreign policy and military issues, current and former White House officials said.
In one heated exchange between the two men before February's Winter Olympics in South Korea, Kelly strongly — and successfully — dissuaded Trump from ordering the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula, according to two officials.
For Kelly, the exchange underscored the reasoning behind one of his common refrains, which multiple officials described as some version of "I'm the one saving the country."
"The strong implication being 'if I weren't here we would've entered WWIII or the president would have been impeached,'" one former senior White House official said.
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Kelly has known Trump is an idiot from day 1.
What has taken him so long to say something?
Big yawn alert!
More old, tired. irrelevant"breaking news" from JR.
Wasn't this story seeded a few months ago, and like all of John's seeds, it simply fell into the abyss after only a couple of hours?
No, that was when Tillerson was calling trump a fucking idiot.
story on my msn feed is saying Kelly is calling this story BS.
If Kelly doesn't think Trump is an idiot than he's not very observant.
Why should we believe that he's isn't just trying to save his job? I believe he said it, and I believe that a whole lot more people in the Whitehouse say it on a daily basis.
Better yet, what took the left so long to fabricate this nonsense?
Let's see, his Secretary of State called him a moron, and his Chief of Staff calls him an idiot.
Sounds like Trump is unqualified to be president of the United States.
And yet he cleared all the prerequisites AND won the election. Go cry somewhere else.
With a little help from his friend.......Putin.
And after about 18 months of "investigating" all we found is President Trump had sex with a hooker 10 years ago (oh no!!!), Mueller is in panic mode and oh yeah, no proof of Putin involvement.
Deleted, CoC {SP}
They are pathetically low. Essentially they are little more than "be born in the US and live past the age of 35. Virtually every adult in the country is qualified by those standards.
Still have your head buried I see.
Trump tweets, “Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow – if so, will he become my new best friend?”
U.S. charges Russians with 2016 U.S. election tampering to boost Trump
Deleted, Skirting {SP}, but since I can provide links and quotes from Trump himself, (removed for context)
They seemed to be find for Obama to stay in office. But now that it's somebody in office you don't like, suddenly they are too low.
You fail to see the irony in that don't you.
Lay with dogs you end up with fleas...I have no idea what some of those that signed on to work for Trump were thinking.
"Lay with dogs you end up with fleas..."
In Trump's case, it's incurable mange. As many are finding out much too late.
It's the old saying, "Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it." But, the price may be more than you thought you would have to pay.
Trump soils the reputation of everyone who goes to work for him, or he comes in contact with.
Whatever JR. So what should we do about the Trump problem?
The Isle of Elba is nice and far out in the sea and has been used similarly before...
It was never verified that Kelly called Trump an idiot. The aides said that they thought they heard that.
Come on, you know the left doesn't care. Give it a day or two, they'll give the "anonymous source verified..." line and expect us to just go along with it.
And, I knew that the title of the piece on MSN would be used so that is why I read the entire article twice.
"He (Kelly) has referred to Trump as "an idiot" multiple times to underscore his point, according to four officials who say they've witnessed the comments."
Who are those sources? Can't answer that, can you? This, like all of your seeds, is a farce and a regular daily edition of "wah, wah, I don't like Trump because he is not named Hilary"
More leftist lies
“White House Chief of Staff John Kelly emphatically denied an NBC News report Monday that he has repeatedly called President Trump "an idiot" in conversations with aides.
Less than an hour after the NBC report was published, Kelly issued a statement calling the story "total BS."
"I spend more time with the President than anyone else and we have an incredibly candid and strong relationship," said Kelly, who added that Trump "always knows where I stand."
"I am committed to the President, his agenda, and our country," Kelly went on. "This is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administration’s many successes."
Of course, John and his leftist buddies will now declare NBC a far right wing site and to not be trusted....until they publish another false story. Then all is good.
Names? Or is this your "anonymous source" line?
Seriously though, who hasn't? It is like calling Freddie Mercury gay, it is stating the obvious.
Newstalkers Deplorables - Running From The Truth Since 2016
NOT RUNNING FROM THE TRUTH, BUT TRYING TO GET TO IT
Your history here says you are in complete denial of the truth.
And, the truth will set you free, Mr. Russell!
The latest report.....Kelly says his calling Trump an idiot is BS!
I totally can't believe the hate you have for our President.
Think about Obama, then you will get it.
NBC news? sounds more like a bad episode of 30 rock.
prediction : the un named "spokesman" most likely an aide or gofer, will quietly be reassigned , most likely a couple times over the next 3-6 months and , then quietly be let go due to over staffing conflicts in "OTHER non critical governmental agencies.
So NBC is either on a pot stirring fishing expedition at best and put some low level lackey that was already on the radar for being let go having the trigger pulled for the end of their employment , OR they actually have someone speaking , that the general most likely already knows who it is , and you can refur to my above prediction.
I fancy a fact finding mission to shemya island AK to get an accurate count of puffins and auks for a month , then maybe a transfer to DOT and a fact finding to say the Andes and the most dangerous road there checking "honey wagons", from there its anyones guess.
Somebody already on the radar will end up losing their jobs , and most likely in a way they wont even see coming.
Where is NBC News in the ratings anyway? and aren't sweeps weeks coming up?
Well, it sure isn't hard to believe. It would be harder to believe that Kelly has NOT called Trump an idiot.
No big deal..............again.
One idiot called another idiot an idiot.
The 'Trumper Swooners' are hard at work defending the liar in chief against all truths. Don't matter. The Nobel Peace Prize? Really?
Is Trump an idiot? That would depend upon one's perspective, especially when 'grading the intellect' of the party and the base that gave 'the Trump' the nod.
Back in the first half of the twentieth century {during the time period that many of our conservative friends were a time when America was great}, the nomenclature that was used to describe people with mental challenges was idiot, imbecile, and moron. A moron was the highest level of mental retardation {the secretary of state was probably complementing Trump when he used that term}. An idiot was the lowest level of intelligence. If Kelly did call Trump an idiot, he probably felt that he was a lot more impaired than anyone else has indicated.
I guess he knows......Kelly is around this president enough.
Conservatism is dead. Murdered by Reagan and Supply Side Economics.
Besides, in the circle of the DeVos clique, moron, idiot and imbecile are terms indistinguishable from one another. It is likely that the term most chosen are easier to pronounce and easier to spell.
Midterms are coming up in November. Tick tock Normie, Tick fucking tock.
Still the only one voting up your own posts.
You do love the "f" word!
Whatever.
I believe you named 1 race where a repuke won recently. That was just 1. Watch out for the blue wave. 1. LOL!
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
One
Tick tock tick tock.
A fair enough description I suppose, he seems to prove it on a daily basis more or less.
I would be more surprised if someone, anyone, did not call Trump an idiot, a moron or a nutter...
I find it hilarious the length and breadth that the conservatives here will labor to when defending a man that has lied multiple times every day of his campaign and term.
"Trump's a moron" "He didn't say that, it's not true"
"Trump's an idiot" "He didn't say that, it's not true"
Trump says "I heard from many people, not just me but many people...." Suddenly Trump is telling the truth...
Trump has proven he needs a babysitter to filter his lies, one by one they all resign because he's an embarrassment and a proven liar.
As soon as those facts come out they reach for Obama or Clinton....
Yeah...Kelly, the same guy that tried to get staff to help him lie by saying he was all over Porter within an hour.......There's credibility/s.
Meh, that is like calling the sky blue.