White House Chief of Staff John Kelly in an interview on Fox News tonight:
The lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War, and men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand.
In a technical sense, it’s true enough that a lack of “compromise” led to the Civil War. Ditto for World War II. Also every other war ever fought. But it’s funny that Kelly, like so many conservatives these days, just can’t bring himself to say precisely what it was that had to be compromised. The s-word seems to be missing from his vocabulary.
