Retired General Mark Milley helped get the ball rolling. The public learned two weeks ago that the man Donald Trump tapped for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently went on record saying he now believes the Republican nominee is “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person in this world” . country.”
A week later, retired Gen. John Kelly, who served as White House chief of staff, also said Trump meets the “definition of ‘fascist.’ This was quickly followed by similar comments from Mark Esper, Trump’s former Secretary of Defense. , who admitted that “it’s hard to say” that Trump has not earned the “fascist” label.
Apparently, much of the American public is thinking along the same lines: the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll shows that 49% of the country considers the former Republican president a fascist.
CNN’s Kate Bolduan asked House Majority Whip Tom Emmer for his reaction to the survey data, and the Minnesota Republican responded that his party’s candidate “is going to win this election.” That could very well be true, although it wasn’t really an answer to a question about a large portion of the public concluding that Trump is actually a fascist.
The interview went ahead nonetheless, with the host asking the Republican congressman about accusations — made by members of Trump’s own team — that the former president had quietly praised Adolf Hitler’s generals during his term in the White House. Is Emmer comfortable with such rhetoric? He refused to answer and dismissed the question as irrelevant.
And so Bolduan tried again. NBC News reported:
Bolduan asked at one point, “Are you personally okay with Donald Trump saying he wants his generals to be like Hitler’s generals?” After a pause, Emmer said in part, “Americans don’t want to talk about that.”
It was hard to watch.
NEW >> Stunning exchange between CNN and @GOPMajorityWhip
Question: Are you personally, are you personally okay with Donald Trump saying he wants his generals to be like Hitler’s generals?
(3 second pause)
A: Americans don’t want to talk about that. pic.twitter.com/reXwhBYOQb
— James Singer (@Jemsinger) October 25, 2024
The strange thing is that the Republican leader of the House of Representatives could have given a rather obvious answer. “It’s clear that no one in American politics should have anything positive to say about Hitler or his generals, but I don’t believe the recent reporting, and Trump has denied the claims.”
See how easy this is?
But the majority in the House of Representatives, afraid of its own shadow, did not even want to go that far.
Recent history is a relevant part of the story: Most Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election, but Emmer did the right thing and sided with Democrats.
To say the least, Trump harbored a grudge — and derailed Emmer’s bid for the House of Representatives exactly a year ago this week.
The Minnesota Republican went to humbling lengths to ingratiate himself back into the former president’s good graces, abandoning any sense of pride, and his efforts ultimately paid off.
After Emmer embarrassed himself with over-the-top sycophancy, Trump reportedly boasted privately, referring to the congressman, “They always bend the knee.”
A year later, as Emmer’s pathetic display on CNN showed, not enough has changed.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
