Donald Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff warns that the Republican presidential candidate meets the definition of a fascist and that Trump suggested during his time in office that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler “did some good things.”
The comments from John Kelly, the retired Navy general who worked for Trump in the White House from 2017 to 2019, came in interviews published Tuesday in the New York Times and the Atlantic. They build on earlier warnings from former top Trump officials as the election enters its final two weeks.
Kelly has long been critical of Trump and previously accused him of calling veterans who died in combat “suckers” and “losers.” His new warnings emerged as Trump seeks a second term, promising to dramatically expand his use of the military at home and suggesting he would use force to go after Americans he calls “enemies of from within’.
“He remarked more than once, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things too,’” Kelly recalled to the New York Times. Kelly said he would usually interrupt the conversation by saying “nothing.” [Hitler] did, you might say, was good,” but that Trump occasionally brought up the subject again.
In his interview with the Atlantic, Kelly recalled that when Trump floated the idea of needing “German generals,” Kelly would ask if he meant “Bismarck’s generals,” referring to Otto von Bismarck, the chancellor who oversaw the unification of Germany. “You certainly don’t mean Hitler’s generals,” Kelly recalled when she asked Trump. To which the former president replied: “Yes, yes, Hitler’s generals.”
Trump’s campaign denied the stories on Tuesday, with campaign spokesman Steven Cheung saying Kelly had “betrayed himself with these debunked stories that he made up.”
Polls show the race in swing states is tight, and both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are crisscrossing the country making their final pitches to the group of undecided voters. Harris’ campaign has spent a lot of time reaching out to independent voters, using the support of longtime Republicans like former Rep. Liz Cheney and comments like Kelly’s to urge former Trump voters to reject his candidacy in November ways.
Harris’ campaign held a call with reporters on Tuesday to raise the voices of retired military officials, who highlighted how many of the officials who worked with Trump now oppose his campaign.
“People who know him best are the most against him and his presidency,” the retired Army sergeant said. General Steve Anderson.
Anderson said he wished Kelly would fully support Harris over Trump, something he has yet to do. But retired Army Reserve Col. Kevin Carroll, a former senior adviser to Kelly, said Wednesday that Trump’s former top official “would rather chew on broken glass than vote for Donald Trump.”
Before serving as Trump’s chief of staff, Kelly worked as the former president’s Secretary of Homeland Security, where he oversaw Trump’s efforts to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. Kelly also was at the forefront of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration policies, which led to the separation of thousands of immigrant parents and their children along the southern border. Those actions made him a villain to many on the left, including Harris.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
