Readers React: John Kelly fed some of Trump’s worst instincts on immigration

To the editor: Outgoing Chief of Staff John Kelly’s description of his tenure in the White House reminds me of a trip down the rabbit hole, with Kelly as the Mad Hatter. (“John F. Kelly says his tenure as Trump’s chief of staff is best measured by what the president did not do,” Dec. 30)

Kelly did not keep President Trump in line. On immigration, Kelly himself not only supported Trump’s statements but also offered his own disparaging comments with regard to Mexicans and Central Americans.

The sad part of his story is that he, along with so many of those who resigned or got fired, refuse to say what is wrong with Trump. To much of the country, even clinically delusional people have a better grasp of reality than the Trump White House.

Homer Alba, Glendale

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To the editor: Kelly’s comments on immigration sound reasonable now. Yet, when he was trying to implement Trump’s awfully inhumane policy, he stated that immigrants coming across the Mexican border “don’t speak English and don’t integrate well.”

He had evidently forgotten about his great-grandparents who spoke no English when they immigrated from Avellino, Italy.

Kelly may have had some success in blocking his boss from some of his worst instincts. His major contribution, however, is in making crystal clear that Trump cannot work with a chief of staff since he, himself, wants to do the job. And of course, given the White House state of affairs, no sane person would want it.

That’s why the 45th president will have an interim chief of staff who accepted the job reluctantly, knowing only too well sycophancy is the basic requirement.

Domenico Maceri, San Luis Obispo

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To the editor: In October 2017, the six solid border wall prototypes in San Diego were completed and Trump viewed them in March 2018 — facts that illuminate Kelly’s assertion, “But we left a solid concrete wall early on in the administration.”

So, if Trump revised his thinking about his wall “early on,” then mentioning it to Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and the other howling far right media types could have prevented our present government shut-down. If Trump did revise his thinking back then, doesn’t this make his border wall theater an even bigger waste?

Trump’s mendacity and misdirection is commemorated by these six monuments.

Tim Tunks, Santa Monica

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