I haven’t interviewed Kelly, and I probably never will. If I did, however, it would go something like this:
I meet with Kelly at his office in the White House.
C: Thank you for agreeing to speak with me.
K: It’s my pleasure. It’s also my job.
C: So what is it like for a military man to work for Donald Trump? Does life in the White House feel chaotic?
K: I wouldn’t call it “chaotic.” It’s challenging. And dynamic.
C: But surely you miss the tidiness of the military chain of command.
K: It’s a different challenge. I knew that coming in. You take it as it comes.
C: The world knows that Trump gets a lot of his information from television. How much TV does he watch a day?
K: I don’t know, and I don’t really care. You’d have to ask him.
C: How can you really control the flow of information if he’s getting his facts from TV?
K: I do what I can. It is what it is.
C: I’ve expressed a concern on my blog that the very visible military presence within the Trump Administration could deepen the wedge between blue America and the military. Is that something that concerns you?
K: To some extent, but there isn’t anything I can do about it. The three of us are just patriotic Americans serving our country. We believe in civilian control of the military. What more do you want us to do?
C: You’ve made statements about the importance of public service. Would you support bringing back some form of the draft in order to close the gap between the military and the population?
K: There’s a case for it, but it isn’t on the table.
C: Does it trouble you that you are making the case for public service while working for a man who avoided serving in the military during Vietnam for fairly spurious medical reasons?
K: He avoided serving for perfectly legal reasons, and he’s serving the public today.
C: Do you think it will be a problem to motivate the minorities in the military to fight wars for a man who appears to despise them?
K: They will be fighting for their country, not Donald Trump. I have every confidence in them.
C: Do you have political views of your own?
K: Yes, but I pretty well keep them to myself. My job is to see that the President makes decisions based on the best available information. That’s it.
C: How do you feel about his use of Twitter?
K: If it were up to me, he wouldn’t do it, but it isn’t up to me. I work around it as best I can.
C: Do his tweets represent government policy, or not?
K: No. The press pays too much attention to them.
C: Prior to working for the White House, you were known to advocate for a fairly sophisticated approach to border control. Today, you support the wall. Why the change?
K: Control of the borders is a legitimate domestic and foreign policy issue. The American people voted for Donald Trump, and his views are well-known. My job is to make his opinions reality.
C: Don’t you worry that all of the anti-Mexican rhetoric will result in a wave of anti-gringo sentiment, and an AMLO victory, with everything that entails?
K: I just go to work each day and try to help the president do what’s right for the American people that day. I’ll deal with tomorrow’s issues tomorrow.
C: You’re a pretty linear thinker, right?
K: That’s the way it’s done in the military.
C: Thank you for your time.