In 2021, Donald Trump’s spokesperson denied that the former Republican president had ever made positive comments about Adolf Hitler. More than three years later, these denials are increasingly difficult to believe. A new report from The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg included:
Trump has repeatedly expressed disdain for those who serve in the military and for their devotion to duty, honor and sacrifice. Former generals who worked for Trump say the only military virtue he values is obedience. As his presidency came to an end, and in the years that followed, he became increasingly interested in the benefits of dictatorship and the absolute control over the military that he believed it would bring. “I need the kind of generals Hitler had,” Trump said in a private conversation at the White House, according to two people who heard him say.
As he did three years ago, a Trump spokesperson told The Atlantic that the quote is “absolutely false,” adding that the former president “never said this.”
That said, retired Gen. John Kelly — Trump’s former Secretary of Homeland Security and former White House Chief of Staff — hit the road with Goldberg. From the report:
Kelly told me that when Trump brought up the subject of “German generals,” Kelly responded by asking, “Do you mean Bismarck’s generals?” He continued: “I mean, I knew he didn’t know who Bismarck was, or about the Franco-Prussian War. I said, ‘Do you mean the Emperor’s generals? Surely you don’t mean Hitler’s generals? And he said, ‘Yes, yes, Hitler’s generals.’
Kelly then told Goldberg, again on the record, that the former president “used the terms losers And losers to describe soldiers who gave their lives in defense of our country. There are a lot of people who heard him say these things.”
If recent history is any guide, the Republican nominee will almost certainly lash out wildly at the man who served at his right hand for much of his presidency — already publicly referring to the retired general as “stupid” and “a Lowlife with a very small brain and a very big mouth” – although Kelly has been keen to talk about these and related issues for some time.
For his book “The Return of Great Powers,” Kelly told reporter Jim Sciutto that Trump said privately that Hitler “did some good things.” For their book “The Divider,” the retired general also told Peter Baker and Susan Glasser that he wanted Kelly and his colleagues to be more like “the German generals.”
When Kelly asked Trump for clarification, the then-president reportedly responded by specifying, “The German generals in World War II.”
Now it appears the former White House chief of staff is adding even more clarity to his experiences working alongside Trump.
This, of course, is the same Kelly who, after working closely with Trump, said the Republican is guilty of “poisoning” people’s minds, having “serious character issues” and not being “a real man.”
Kelly has also said that Trump “has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is about,” and “has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution and the rule of law.”
Additionally, Kelly told The New York Times in 2022 that during his presidency, Trump told his chief of staff to use the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department to attack his critics and perceived political enemies.
The Times report further noted: “Mr. Kelly said he made it clear to Mr. Trump that there were serious legal and ethical problems with what he wanted.” The then president made the demands ‘regularly’ anyway.
With two weeks to go until 2024 Election Day, it appears the retired general isn’t quite finished shedding light on what he knows about his former boss’ perspective.
This message updates our related previous reporting.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
