Within the chatterbox that comprises Twitter, cable shows and liberal sites not so enlightened as this one, everyone is hoping that General Kelly will be the person to finally impose some sort of sane order on the Drumpf-ateria at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Democrats are hoping that he will be the principled straight-arrow who nearly resigned in protest over l’Affaire Comey… nearly.  Republicans are hoping he’ll be the ramrod Marine General who will impose order and discipline on a White House in turmoil so they can get back to screwing the poor, fleecing the middle class, and rewarding their rich friends.

Those poor deluded fools.

Kelly enlisted in the Marine Corps when his Vietnam draft number came up.  Having risen through the ranks from buck private to four-star General, he is the epitome of the American Self-Made Man, circa 1951, when Chesty Puller became the last Marine promoted to brigadier general in a combat zone, until Kelly in Iraq.   When asked about the size of the Iraqi Army, he sounded very much like the fictional Marine Colonel Jessup of the movie A Few Good Men when he growled, “Hell these are Marines. Men like them held Guadalcanal and took Iwo Jima. Baghdad ain’t shit.”

As commander of the United States Southern Command, which covers everything in this hemisphere south of the border, he was in charge of whoever the real Colonel Jessup was at Guantanamo.  He defended abusive practices there, and pooh-poohed its value to terrorists as a propaganda tool: “Bombing the living shit out of ISIS in Iraq and Afghanistan, Syria, that would maybe irritate them more than the fact we have Guantanamo open.”

“I have never been prouder,” he said to Congress, “…than I am of the young military professionals who stand duty day and night at Guantánamo, serving … in one of the toughest and most unforgiving military missions on the planet.”

…I don’t force feed prisoners  breakfast, too!

Also as SOUTHCOM, Kelly became intimately acquainted with drug interdiction operations, and reached the conclusion that Mexicans could actually be smuggling terrorists, maybe, someday, somehow, for some reason – hey, it’s possible!  Therefore…

I just need a wall to be on, first.

So that’s who we’re dealing with: a lifetime, old school, blood and guts Marine who would be wonderful for storming the castle, but not so good once you’re inside.

Despite his various staff jobs on the way up, including, of course, in the Pentagon, he has no background in making things work in Washington.  He has no experience with political administration, so don’t expect the stalled Fuck-The-Poors legislative agenda to suddenly get on track.  Even his Department of Homeland Security gig was dedicated to fulfilling the military wishes of Generalissimo Drumpf, executing his illegal ICE raids, and implementing his illegal immigration bans.

Kelly would no doubt tell you that he was merely following orders, as he was trained to do, but that won’t hold up for a couple of reasons.  First, he is no longer IN the military, but, second, even if he were, he is only supposed to follow lawful orders.  And very few of the orders Dat Guy issues, very little of what he does, stand within the circle of “lawful.”  Mostly, it’s just awful.

And over at DHS, Kelly saw very little reason to be the stand-up guy everyone wants to pretend he is and defy the awful orders.  To the contrary, he’s all about sealing the borders, by any means necessary, whether there’s an actual need or not.   He’s not going to be the man of principle “everyone” thinks he is.  He’s already sacrificed those principles.  Everyone and everything Drumpf touches turns to shit.  Some willingly.

King Midass

Kelly isn’t going to reign in the Mad Generalissimo’s worst impulses.  He’s going to weaponize them.  That’s what banana republics do.