Donald Trump’s longest-serving White House chief of staff has doubled down on claims that the former president was a fan of Adolf Hitler and warns that he would “rule like a dictator if he were allowed to.”
John Kelly, who was on Trump’s staff from 2017 to 2019, in a scathing new interview with the New York Times has accused the Republican candidate of being the “definition of a fascist” and claims he doesn’t understand American history or the Constitution.
Kelly, 74, alleged that Trump once said that “Hitler did some good things” and praised the Nazi dictator for having “rebuilt the economy.” Kelly also said The Atlantic On Tuesday, Trump said he wanted his staff to be more like “German generals in World War II” because they were “totally loyal” to Hitler.
Additionally, the retired Marine Corps veteran doubled down on his previous claims that Trump called U.S. service members who were killed or wounded “stupid and losers,” adding that the former president “may be the only American citizen who feels that way.” with respect to those who gave their support. lives or has served his country.
A Trump campaign spokesperson responded to Kelly’s claims in a statement to the Times, saying that the former political adviser “has been totally delusional with these debunked stories that he has fabricated.”
John Kelly (R), Donald Trump’s longest-serving White House chief of staff, has doubled down on claims that the former president was a fan of Adolf Hitler and warns that he would “rule like a dictator if he were allowed to.” Kelly and Trump appear together in June 2018.
Kelly, who was on the Republican nominee’s White House staff from 2017 to 2019, in a scathing new interview accused Trump (pictured Tuesday) of being the “definition of a fascist” and claims he doesn’t understand history American nor the Constitution.
Kelly alleged that his former boss “certainly preferred the government’s dictatorial approach” and “never accepted the fact that he was not the most powerful man in the world.”
Reading aloud a definition of fascism from a textbook during an audio interview with the Times, he described the ideology as a “far-right authoritarian and ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forced suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy.”
Kelly said that in “my experience” he has found that Trump believes those ideologies “would work better in terms of governing the United States,” adding, “He certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”
He also alleged that Trump was upset by the limitations on his power and wanted the “ability to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted,” which Kelly said was Trump’s experience in the business world.
In a separate interview with The Atlantic, Kelly claimed that Trump became more interested in the “advantages of dictatorship” and having “absolute control over the military” as his tenure in the Oval Office neared its end.
“I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” Trump reportedly said during a private conversation at the White House. “People who were totally loyal to him, who followed orders.”
Trump spokesman Alex Pfeiffer, in an email to the magazine, denied the alleged conversation, stating, “This is absolutely false.” “President Trump never said this.”
Kelly said, in “my experience,” that Trump believes fascist ideologies “would work better in terms of governing America.” The couple appears together in October 2017 during a briefing with senior military leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House.
President Donald Trump speaks with Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly and Vice President Mike Pence before laying flowers at the grave of Kelly’s son, 1st Lt. Robert Kelly, at Arlington National Cemetery on May 29 2017. Lt. Kelly was killed in 2010 while leading a patrol in Afghanistan
Kelly, who has also been investigated for the alleged comments, claims that he and Trump spoke in detail about “German generals” in World War II.
—Are you referring to the Kaiser’s generals? Surely you don’t mean Hitler’s generals? Kelly claims he asked Trump, to which he alleges the then-president responded, “Yes, yes, Hitler’s generals.”
The former staffer said he “explained” to Trump that Hitler’s generals had “tried to kill” the Austrian-born leader “three times and almost succeeded.”
He claims Trump responded: “No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him.”
The retired political adviser also claims he had to tell Trump that he “will never be able to say anything good” about Hitler, even though the then-president believed the dictator “did some good things.”
Similarly, Kelly alleges that Trump in 2018 asked him who the ‘good guys’ were during World War I, to which he advised that American presidents should “remember that the ‘good guys’ in any conflict are America’s allied countries.” “.
Kelly was also questioned about reports that Trump had expressed disdain for disabled veterans and soldiers who died in combat.
‘President Trump used the terms ‘losers’ and ‘suckers’ to describe the soldiers who gave their lives defending our country. “There are a lot of people who have heard him say these things,” he told The Atlantic.
A Trump campaign spokesperson responded to Kelly’s claims, saying the former political adviser “has been totally deluded by these debunked stories that he has fabricated.” Donald Trump is pictured during a campaign rally in North Carolina on Tuesday.
He alleged that Trump did not want to be seen in a parade with amputee soldiers because “it doesn’t seem right to me,” he refused to visit the graves of fallen soldiers in France and “demonstrated open disdain for a Gold Star family” during his 2016 campaign.
Trump, according to Kelly, did not understand the sacrifice of slain soldiers and reportedly once asked, “Why do you think people who die are heroes?”
Kelly says he “could never understand why that was the case” and argued that “altruism is something he just didn’t understand.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung, in a statement to axiosdenied that the Republican candidate made those comments, saying, “President Trump has always honored the service and sacrifice of all of our military men and women.”
Tuesday’s comments marked the most extensive public comments by former top aides about the former Republican president and the 2024 GOP nominee.
Kelly declined to endorse any White House candidate, but said “it’s very dangerous for the wrong person to be elected to high office.”
