Kudos to Naseem Rakha for the excellent Oct. 29 op-ed, "John Kelly and the death of truth." I have wondered for some time why such competent and proven individuals such as White House Chief of Staff Kelly, General James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would be willing to go to work each day for an incompetent boss.

Having been there a couple of times in my business career, I know how thoroughly frustrating and stressful this can be. I always assumed that for Kelly and Mattis it was a strong sense of duty to country which is deeply instilled in those who choose military careers. I have no idea why Tillerson has hung in there for this long and suspect that he will soon be gone.

But when Kelly chose to lie in support of President Trump's lies, he went far beyond the call of duty. In addition, when Sarah Huckabee Sanders intimated that a Marine general was beyond being questioned by the media, she forgot that here in the United States we have the First Amendment. President Trump might want to study up on this as well.

Rich Belzer, Bend