Outgoing Trump chief of staff John Kelly did a debriefing of sorts in a Los Angeles Times interview, this weekend. It served mainly as Kelly's defense of why he should still be considered a decent and respectable person, despite working for a manifestly unfit kleptocrat who cannot be trusted to handle so much as a Twitter account, much less a nation. There were a few tidbits of note, such as him dumping the blame for the Trump administration's child prisons squarely on ex-attorney general Jeff Sessions.
“What happened was Jeff Sessions, he was the one that instituted the zero-tolerance process on the border that resulted in both people being detained and the family separation,” Kelly said. “He surprised us.”
On the precious Racism Wall that Trump has now closed the federal government over, having apparently given up on his claims that "Mexico" would be paying for it, Kelly is not quite on the presidential page.
“To be honest, it’s not a wall,” Kelly said.
Oh, good. The federal government of the United States is currently being held hostage, with workers furloughed and "essential" others working without paychecks, for "not a wall." Good to know.
As for Kelly's efforts at self-defense, he relies heavily on suggesting that whatever Trump might have done, John Kelly's noble contribution to the cause was maybe sometimes stopping Trump from doing something much, much worse. The unstable, babbling president did not withdraw the United States from NATO, for example. That should be counted as a Kelly "win", alongside similar non-withdrawals, so far, in South Korea and Afghanistan. (Although highlighting these, in particular, as Kelly contributions to rudimentary stability seems to suggest that all three are still firmly on the Trump table, after Kelly has departed.)
Similarly, Kelly assures the public that though Trump seemingly has little grasp on what laws he is supposed to be governed by, as president, Trump never specifically ordered him to do anything "illegal."
“If he had said to me, ‘Do it, or you’re fired,’” Kelly said he would have resigned.
So chisel that onto the future monument: This park dedicated to John F. Kelly, a giant of his days, who says he would have stood firm on that whole helping a U.S. president break United States laws business. If it had come up. Which, he says, it didn't.
If that seems a less-than-robust claim for posterity, perhaps it is intended as a more immediate defense aimed at federal prosecutors investigating nigh-on everything else about Donald Trump’s campaign, administration and general orbit. Donald Trump's campaign chairman, deputy campaign chair, top national security adviser and longtime personal lawyer have all been convicted of breaking U.S. laws, multiple cabinet members have been forced out in scandal and both Trump himself and multiple family members are under multiple investigations for other seemingly illegal acts ranging from tax fraud to conspiracy with a hostile foreign power.
If John Kelly wants to be judged for not doing the illegal things, so be it: He may indeed be almost alone in topping that low bar. It’s not worth a monument, but it might be worth a post office.