
Army or marine generals and I suppose Navy admirals have, over centuries, perfected a scouring gaze so chilling that those receiving it tremble in their boots. General John Kelly, the four star marine taking over as Trump's chief of staff, strikes me as somebody who did not need to perfect such a gaze but was born with it and is very possibly aware of the effect it has on people he confronts or even bothers to observe. Imagine the thoughts behind that gaze, after commanding brave marines through combat, as he settled those agate eyes on the “Big Scare.”
Another Trump crony who's made billions and never served but loves America and waves that flag.
I remember, in the army, and especially during basic training and advanced individual training, that drill instructors had a different kind of hateful and hating stare, one that did not bother to penetrate your soul and psyche but was hell bent on terrifying you. DI's are professors of savage profanity, verbal abuse and sadistic physical conditioning and they also know within minutes of your reactions to their assaults just what you are made of.
But generals? And generals who look like Chief of Staff Kelly? They don't have to say a word. All they have to do is rest that steel gaze on you and not say anything as you stand inspection. You swallow hard and your legs turn to jelly and you pray they don't find anything wrong with you or say anything to you, because you will be tongue-tied; unless, of course, they're pinning a medal on you.
I'm wondering, when General Kelly settles that gaze on Trump's two whiny big game hunting brats, Don. Jr and Eric, what he really thinks. I'm also wondering what he thinks when he stares into the unlived-in face of girly-hipped Jared Kushner, the supposed go-to man in Trump's nepotistic inner circle. Try and picture Kushner in marine basic training as somebody tries to pick a fight with him.
And for God's sake what can the general possibly think of a liar who got a doctor to lie his way out of the military during Vietnam and calls senator John McCain a loser because he was a prisoner of war who refused to give anybody up or desert his fellow tortured POWs?
All the pundits in the media are offering their predictions of how the master liar and crybaby in the White House will react to the unwavering discipline and powerhouse strength of character awaiting him from his new chief of staff. Trump evidently feels that if he leaves it up to generals they will take care of all his problems, like Consiglieres and enforcers, since he's lost hope with just about everybody in his administration and excoriates them with demeaning tweets every chance he gets.
Trump seems enamored with generals and spoke of them glowingly while campaigning for the presidency and claimed he would find the “good generals” to do his bidding and straighten out these wars Obama failed at. Trump spouts outrageous lies and boasts daily, denies realities and truths, blames others for his failures. Trump is so impulsive and undisciplined he cannot control himself in the wee hours as he tweets the above absurdities. Trump knows absolutely nothing about domestic policy or foreign policy or health care or military strategy and feels he does not need to read books or brush up on these subjects like ivory tower think tank eggheads, and that he can wing it, because he is all powerful and knows everything...
So how does John Kelly, a learned, experienced, dedicated servant of the people deal with this diva/hot-head/blowhard who represents everything a strait-laced military man is against and despises when he hovers over his tweeter at 4 in the morning in his bathrobe and furry house shoes, gorged with rage and persecution, needing milk and cookies from his mama?
One hopes the general only has to issue his piercing steel-gaze to stun the pussy into retreating to the flossy bed of his ex trophy model wife, if she's even there and not in New York trying to make more money.
Good luck, general Steel-gaze.