Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger revealed in his new book, “Renegade,” that former White House chief of staff John Kelly was once so exhausted from his role that he could barely stay awake during a private breakfast at the White House. Kinzinger spoke about the internal pressures that Kelly faced as he tried to bring stability to a White House often guided by Trump’s personal whims.
According to Kinzinger, Kelly arrived at the breakfast looking gaunt and exhausted. He shared that Kelly was intended to be a moderating force in the administration but had to exert energy to combat Trump’s preference for trusting his own judgment or the views of those fully aligned with him.
Kinzinger wrote, “The problem with Trump, from a chief of staff’s perspective, was that he preferred to do everything informally and on his own with minimum staff engagement.” This meant that Kelly and others often discovered that Trump had considered advice from cronies or social contacts at Mar-a-Lago and was serious about acting on it.
Kinzinger acknowledged the toll this took on Kelly, stating, “The work of diverting Trump’s attention away from terrible ideas and directing him to fulfill his duties obviously took all of Kelly’s energy.”
In October, Kelly confirmed claims from a 2020 article published by The Atlantic, which alleged that Trump had called fallen US veterans “suckers” and “losers.” Kelly condemned Trump’s behavior, stating, “A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform…are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.'”
Kelly continued to criticize Trump, stating that he admires autocrats, shows contempt for democratic institutions, and has no regard for the rule of law. He concluded, “There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.”
The Trump campaign responded to Kelly’s statements, with spokesman Steven Cheung dismissing them as “debunked stories” and accusing Kelly of not serving his President well during his time as chief of staff.
Kelly served as chief of staff from July 2017 to January 2019. Kinzinger’s account sheds light on the challenges Kelly faced in trying to rein in Trump’s personal instincts and bring stability to the White House.
