After Video Refutes Kellys Charges, Congresswoman Raises Issue of Race

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Source: nytimes

WASHINGTON — Video of a 2015 speech delivered by Representative Frederica S. Wilson revealed Friday that John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, misrepresented her remarks when he accused her of bragging about securing $20 million for a South Florida F.B.I. building and twisting President Barack Obama’s arm.

Ms. Wilson, in an interview on Friday, called Mr. Kelly a liar and hinted strongly that the altercation, prompted by a call from President Trump to the widow of a fallen black soldier, was racially charged.

“The White House itself is full of white supremacists,” she said.

Mr. Kelly, escalating a feud between Mr. Trump and Ms. Wilson, had cast the congresswoman on Thursday as a publicity-seeking opportunist. However, the video, released by The Sun Sentinel, a newspaper in South Florida, showed that during her nine-minute speech, Ms. Wilson never took credit for getting the money for the building, only for helping pass legislation naming the building after two fallen federal agents.

She never mentioned pleading with Mr. Obama, and she acknowledged the help of several Republicans, including John A. Boehner, then the House speaker; Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart and Carlos Curbelo; and Senator Marco Rubio.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/us/politics/trump-kelly-congresswoman-wilson-niger.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

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“I feel very sorry for him because he feels such a need to lie on me and I’m not even his enemy,” Ms. Wilson said of Mr. Kelly. “I just can’t even imagine why he would fabricate something like that. That is absolutely insane. I’m just flabbergasted because it’s very easy to trace."

"They are making themselves look like fools. They have no credibility,” she said. “They are trying to assassinate my character, and they are assassinating their own because everything they say is coming out and shown to be a lie.”

[spooky3]

1. She's obviously right, and strong to say this. But as Joy Reid pointed out,

it is likely to be sexism/misogyny as well as racism, that is driving Kelly's lies and insults.

[SunSeeker]

3. Lawrence O'Donnell also suggested it was racism.

Of course, it can be both racism and sexism. The two are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, they usually go hand-in-hand.

[whathehell]

34. He didn't do a good job of it, though..

I didn't like the way Kelly spoke about the congresswoman, but calling someone an "empty barrel" refers to the old saying "Empty barrels make the most noise". It has nothing to do with race.

[SunSeeker]

35. Degrading a black woman's intellect, in light of Kelly's background, is no coincidence.

And Lawrence did a great job of explaining the highly segregated neighborhood Kelly grew up in and how that affects Kelly's world view. I can see racism in it.

[whathehell]

36. I see it a bit differently..

Last edited Sun Oct 22, 2017, 11:26 AM - Edit history (1)

On the whole, I thought O'Donnell was out over his skis on Kelly,. because, for one thing, he does not even know the man, and he's drawing inferences on him that are based solely on a neighborhood that Kelly -- and he -- left fifty years ago...The argument being that, if the neighborhood didn't "stick" to Lawrence, why should he -- and the rest of us -- assume it stuck to Kelly?...

As I said, I think Kelly's a jerk, a Trump toady, and maybe even a liar given his false account of Rep. Wilson's speech. He may even be racist, I just don't think there's enough here to be certain about it.

[SunSeeker]

37. The racists quite clearly heard Kelly's dog whistle.

The congresswoman’s staff immediately alerted authorities to a racially-charged threat made on a Facebook account of a person named “Tom Keevers,” according to the CBS affiliate.

The account wrote about assembling "ten good men to help carry out a lynching," adding that they "must have own horse and saddle" but "rope will be provided.” 

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/356545-congresswomans-office-getting-thousands-of-calls-during-feud-with

[Honeycombe8]

18. Well, the female thing is historically what Trumpers go after.

But I don't see how race is involved.

[spooky3]

20. Lawrence O'Donnell's take is worth watching.

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. This is a sweet as banana cream pie.

They are making themselves look like fools. Kelly jumped the shark.

[lapfog_1]

4. empty barrels

that smell of the bullshit just expelled onto the American People.

[pangaia]

30. Maybe HE'S the one shooting empty barrels, in more ways than one.

[world wide wally]

5. It looks like the baby is winning over the babysitter

[spooky3]

21. or, maybe the babysitter is more like the baby than we (at least I) realized.

[Judi Lynn]

6. I'm glad Congresswoman Wilson hasn't been intimidated when Trump dragged out his big gun to use

against her.

Trump goes even more insane with each new challenge to his divinity.

Kelly pulled out all the stops trying to intimidate her.

The Congresswoman is still standing, more power to her.

She has the support of sane people everywhere.

[lunatica]

7. Kelly's reputation just took a nosedive

He should have followed Mark Twain's advice, “It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt”

[Honeycombe8]

24. I love that quote. Wilson's reputation has increased & she has nat'l exposure, now.

She's gotten a lot more famous. Not just from her criticizing the President's call, but because the White House then made a personal attack on her.

[Tarheel_Dem]

8. I wonder how long before Kelly "wants to spend more time with family"? This is embarrassing.

They thought they were putting out a fire by sending out a Gold Star general. They've now managed to turn this into an inferno. They should have left it alone after Rep. Wilson said she wouldn't be making further public comments, but it's personal now.

[Honeycombe8]

25. Let's HOPE it's over now. But THEY are proud of Kelly's statement. They were crying in the wings.

That's what I heard on the news. The W H people were all teary eyed at the wonderful defensive speech Kelly gave.

He won't be leaving because of this. I'm sure they think this was one of his shining moments.

[CousinIT]

9. GOOD FOR HER. SO happy she's standing up to those lying racist thugs.

[lark]

10. Applause for Congresswoman Wilson for telling it exactly like it is!

What a wonderful heroine and role model for young women.

[Honeycombe8]

26. Yes, she is. Like the old song, "I wish I were 18 again."

I'd love to be a young woman, entering college and/or the working world, with all these role models. So many choices that weren't there when I was that age.

[NBachers]

11. I'm glad she is using the word "lie." This word has to be used all the time.

[FakeNoose]

13. Yes - and it's awesome that the Sun Sentinel is backing her up

Too many newspapers chickened out last year. This would have never happened while Cheeto was campaigning last year.
If they're lying - call it that way.

[Honeycombe8]

27. Yes. "Lie." Even when I hear "untruth" or "fib" or whatever, they say it with slyness.....

to indicate they're using that word but meaning "lie."

[ffr]

12. What a great perspective. I too show pity on the petty republicans

They are caught red handed in their lies upon lies. What kind of low self esteem individual sinks to such cowardly lies to cover up their own weaknesses???

These are people we're suppose to look up to. Heaven forbid what future generations will take from these most chaotic of times!

Good for you Ms. Wilson!

[Discussionist KING]

14. It's a darn shame that Gen. Kelly was not truthful in his attack on Rep. Wilson

[Jakes Progress]

31. You mean that he lied. Right?

[Martin Eden]

15. I just cant even imagine why he would fabricate something like that."

It's the Trump effect.

Kelly hasn't contained the orange abomination; he's been co-opted.

[shanny]

23. He didn't need to be co-opted.

He's a believer: look no further than his behavior at his previous post of Homeland Security

[TeamPooka]

16. Of course they are white supremacists If they weren't they would have resigned after Charlottesville

[Fritz Walter]

17. I see what they did there

Referring to him as “Mister” Kelly, rather than using his former military rank, implies — correctly, albeit painfully so — that he is a civilian now.

Some — but not all — of these high-ranking officers may infer that, somehow, we taxpaying citizens are beneath them. I would remind them that they’d raised their right hands and swore to defend our nation. All of us. And while rank may have its privileges, respect is earned.

As an Army brat (Ret.), I’m quite familiar with the dedication and loyalty of military families, not to mention the sacrifices they make, especially when the service member becomes a wounded warrior, or pays the ultimate price. There, but for the grace of deities, fate, Karma, et al., might my father have gone. Mr. Kelly — as a Gold Star parent — deserves our support. But, as a member of *45’s administration, he sacrificed the respect, honor and perhaps dignity he earned in uniform.

Still, this slight — deliberate or accidental — will not go unnoticed.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

19. Really Kelly

Don't put your foot in your mouth after walking the cow pasture.

[tavernier]

29. Brilliant!

[Enoki33]

22. Kelly has shown his true character for all to see, but in

doing so he laid bare the fact that he allowed himself to be used by DOTUS in an attempt to cover his outrageous words to a grieving widow and his subsequent lies to hide that fact. Kelly described that man who hid behind him in an attempt to erase more proof that he is in a job way above his level of competence and morality as bravely making the call. Shame on him.

[coolsandy]

28. She didn't have to say it. We already knew it.

[Jakes Progress]

32. I'm glad Representative Wilson is standing up to Mr. Kelly, but

we all already know a bigot and misogynist when we see one.

The thing these two old, white men can't stand is being taken to task by a black woman. Just too much for their fragile egos and delicately constructed masculinity.

[FigTree]

33. Racism is the very only element that binds Trump voters and supporters together.

From a to z, from the onset to now, and for the foreseeable future. As usual with any form of discrimination, racism is largely invisible because everyone, aside from a handful of very disturbed individuals, knows it is essentially immoral. It therefore tends to express itself indirectly and allusively, at least in the mass. When Trump uttered his tacky and third-rate slogan of "make america great again", it communicated, surreptitiously, indirectly and allusively, albeit very clearly to targeted individuals, "white" in the place of "great". It allowed the repressed racist impulse to find a behavioral expression while preserving an appearance of morality.
On a macro-sociological level, the election of this clownish individual can be seen as the result of a sort of gagging reflex of a racist majority that knows that non-whites are on their way to rapidly become the majority. Racism is historically dead. But history does not move fast.