MSNBC Military Analyst: John Kelly Would’ve Been ‘Kicked Out’ of Marines For ‘Racist & Bigoted’ Remarks

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly made some incredibly divisive remarks about immigrants on NPR’s Morning Edition Friday, provoking the ire of many — including a prominent military analyst who is well-known to viewers of cable news.

MSNBC contributor Malcolm Nance tweeted Friday that Kelly would be “kicked out” of the Marine Corps for his comments.

Disgraceful. General John Kelly embraces openly racist & bigoted ideals. He would have been kicked out of the @USMC for comments fractionally close to this. https://t.co/BH1HoS4hzr

— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) May 11, 2018

“Disgraceful,” Nance said. “General John Kelly embraces openly racist & bigoted ideals.”

“He would have been kicked out of the @USMC for comments fractionally close to this,” Nance added.

Kelly said that the majority of immigrants “are not bad people,” but that “they’re overwhelmingly rural people” who “don’t integrate well” and “don’t have skills.”

Other reporters and former government officials were quick to agree with Nance about the inappropriateness of the comments:

WH COS John Kelly says that immigrants from rural areas without English skills don’t integrate into the U.S.

My dad came from rural China and spoke little English. He raised a son who held the same rank in the Obama WH (Asst. to the Pres.) that Kelly holds. I’d say we did okay. pic.twitter.com/m1fW3oqmRz

— Chris Lu (@ChrisLu44) May 11, 2018

John Kelly would have saved himself a lot of words if he just said “they aren’t white.” https://t.co/jZ22fRNAby

— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) May 11, 2018

Word for word, this is in line with how nativists described John Kelly’s Irish ancestors, who were overwhelmingly rural and thought to be ill-suited to the rhythms and discipline of an urbanizing, industrial econony. https://t.co/pSMQUWsZbl

— Joshua Zeitz (@JoshuaMZeitz) May 11, 2018

WH chief of staff John Kelly thinks immigrants are “unskilled” & “don’t integrate well.” Yet some of them end up being grandmother to a US congressman & a US mayor/cabinet secretary with the last name of Castro. Some grow up to be secretary of state with the last name Albright.

— HawaiiDelilah (@HawaiiDelilah) May 11, 2018

WH Chief of Staff John Kelly thinks he’s describing immigrants, but he’s literally describing many rural Americans if you dropped them in Boston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, etc.https://t.co/H3WTRfQiy2 pic.twitter.com/ow0UnuRw0L

— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) May 11, 2018

I can’t with John Kelly naked racism about immigrants. They’re all rural and uneducated? They’re not able to assimilate? What does that mean??? Kelly’s people came here from somewhere and they assimilated. This is what nativist racism sounds like.

— Touré (@Toure) May 11, 2018

[image via screengrab]