Like Bolton, Tillerson and Mattis, Kelly grew incredibly frustrated with Trump; nonetheless, Kelly mostly held his tongue after leaving the White House. But the retired Marine Corps general, during a 75-minute speech and Q&A session at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, New Jersey on Wednesday night, February 12, spoke candidly and frankly about Trump. And Kelly wasn’t shy about criticizing the president, who is angrily lashing out at him on Twitter.
The morning after Kelly’s Morristown appearance, Peter Nicholas covered the event in The Atlantic. Trump, on Twitter, boasted about firing Kelly and posted, “When I terminated John Kelly, which I couldn’t do fast enough, he knew full well that he was way over his head. Being Chief of Staff just wasn’t for him. He came in with a bang, went out with a whimper, but like so many X’s, he misses the action & just can’t keep his mouth shut, which he actually has a military and legal obligation to do.” Continue reading.