Donald Trump Calls Ex-aide John Kelly a ‘Lowlife’ Who Claimed Trump Was ‘Untruthful’

Donald Trump referred to John Kelly, his former chief of staff, as a “lowlife with a very small brain and a very big mouth” after the ex-Marine General corroborated claims about the former president's alleged derogatory behavior toward US military personnel.

Days after Kelly spoke to CNN, Trump claimed that Kelly was “by far the dumbest of my military people … incapable of doing a good job” as chief of staff or, before, as secretary of homeland security in tweets to his Truth Social platform, per The Guardian. “It was too much for him, and I couldn’t stand the guy, so I fired him like a ‘dog’,” wrote the former president. 

Kelly, who quit the Trump administration back in 2018, was thought to be the source behind many stories about Trump treating wounded and dead soldiers and their families disparagingly. Kelly, whose son Robert M. Kelly was murdered in Afghanistan in November 2010, appeared on CNN this week and spoke candidly about these stories. 

Kelly also called Trump “a person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women.” The former Trump aide went on to caution people against Trump, who he believes is “a person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about.”

Kelly suggested that Trump does not treat soldiers with respect. “A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason – in the expectation that someone will take action,” he went on. “A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person who has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our constitution, and the rule of law. There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.”

Trump, however, had plenty more to say in response. “He had no heart or respect for people, so I hit him hard – made no difference to me, he said of Kelly. “He’s already on record defending me all over the place. Nobody loves the military like I do!”

Throwing stones at Kelly's Republican credentials, Trump said Kelly is mouthing the tune of the 'Radical Left,' an allegation he continually uses for his detractors. “Now he finally speaks back by making up fake stories or confirming the made-up stories of the Dem[ocrats] and radical left. He’s a lowlife with a very small brain and a very big mouth … numerous people are angry and upset because they know they will never be in a new Trump administration, but only for one reason, they’re not nearly good enough. Kelly would be among those at the top of the list,” he wrote.