Twenty-four hours after outgoing White House chief of staff John Kelly sat down with the L.A. Times, official Washington is still buzzing about his revelations from inside "Trump-world."
These include Kelly's recollection Trump "was inclined to want to withdraw from Afghanistan" at the time the retired U.S. Marine Corps general took over the White House team, and how the President often pressed the limits of his authority under the law and frequently asked Kelly "why can't we do it this way?"
Such revelations from Kelly are provocative and, in fact, unprecedented, according to historian Chris Whipple, author of the critically acclaimed book "The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency."
"No, I can't recall another ex-chief taking pot shots at the president on his way out the door," Whipple told Newsmax on Monday morning.
Whipple noted the late Donald Regan, whom Ronald Reagan fired as chief of staff in his second term, wrote a highly critical memoir entitled "For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington."
"But Regan's criticism came much later [after Reagan left office], in a book, and he mostly lashed out at Nancy Reagan [for her alleged reliance on astrologists] and not the president," noted Whipple, contrasting it with Kelly's bombshell interview days after he left the White House.
"Having said that, we've never had a president who made life so miserable," and "the job nearly impossible, for his chiefs of staff," he said.
"'Treacherous?' 'Betraying?'" said Whipple, invoking some of the adjectives Trump supporters have been using to describe Kelly since his Times interview. "Those are strong words. But you could also call Kelly's comments honest."
The author voiced the view "everyone, including Kelly, knows that a wall from sea-to-shining-sea is a crackpot idea. [South Carolina's Republican Sen. Lindsay] Graham now calls it a 'metaphor – and not a realistic proposal worth shutting down the government over."
Whipple also told us, "Similarly, is it any surprise Kelly measures his job performance by the terrible things he says he prevented the president from doing? That's unprecedented, all right. So is Donald Trump."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.