(CNN) At first glance, President Donald Trump and his chief of staff, John Kelly, could not be more different. Kelly is a decorated military man who appears to prefer the background to the limelight. Trump is a son of privilege who received five deferments to avoid Vietnam and has spent his entire adult life finding a way to get in front of the camera.

Looks, of course, can be deceiving. And, the more Kelly speaks, the more he sounds like Trump.

Kelly said that the Civil War was born of a "lack of an ability to compromise" and praised Confederate general Robert E. Lee as "an honorable man." For context, here's the fuller quote:

"I would tell you that Robert E. Lee was an honorable man. He was a man that gave up his country to fight for his state, which in 150 years ago was more important than country. It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Now it's different today. But 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 to make their stand."