As the campaign heads into the home stretch less than ten days before Election Day, former President Donald Trump faces new accusations that he praised Adolf Hitler.
But with early voting already underway, his Republican supporters reject the latest accusations.
More than 38 million people have already voted in the elections.
Early in-person voting began in Michigan on Saturday with a steady stream of Trump supporters showing up to cast their votes for the former president.
They dismissed praise for Hitler as “nonsense” and criticized Trump’s former White House chief of staff, retired Gen. John Kelly, who shared his account on the matter.
Voters wait in line to receive votes cast in the 2024 election on the first day of in-person early voting in Michigan on October 26.
Kelly made the allegations in a recent interview with The New York Times.
The retired Marine general said he had admonished Trump several times for admiring statements such as “Hitler did some good things too.”
Kelly made similar comments in a recent interview with The Atlantic.
Trump’s rival vice president, Kamala Harris, seized on reports calling Trump a fascist and warning that he will demand unlimited power if he is re-elected.
The former president has denied the accusations. And his supporters who showed up to vote in the battleground state were either following suit or indicating they didn’t care.
Former President Donald Trump with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly on Oct. 18, 2024. In recent interviews, the retired Marine general said he had to admonish the former president for praising Hitler in conversations while he was in the charge.
“Sure he talked about Hitler in a positive way, but he’s talking about some of those things that, even though (Hitler) is a POS, he did some good things for Germany before it went off the rails,” said Chris Bandelier, 57, of Kalamazoo.
“So I think that’s what he means when he talks about Hitler,” he said.
Bandelier’s priority when he showed up to vote early for the former president was “to try to prevent the elections from being stolen.”
John Vasquez, 42, also came out to vote for Trump on the first day of early voting.
“Trump’s stance on Hitler is a joke,” he said. ‘Trump did more for Israel than any other administration did for Israel in how long? ‘He did everything for them. Why would he be Hitler and be against them? It doesn’t make sense to me.
“Nonsense,” declared Dennis Bourdo. “I didn’t see dictatorship things, Nazi things when Trump was in office.”
He and his wife Christina said they believe people have already made up their minds despite recent interviews with Kelly.
“At almost every rally he makes it clear that he loves America,” said Christina Bourdo. “I didn’t see that in his previous four years where he was trying to control (the United States).”
He noted that Kelly, a retired four-star general, was fired by Trump and suggested that’s why he made those claims.
Her main reason for voting early for Trump was because it aligns more with her beliefs and is against abortion “until birth.”
Early in-person voting began in Michigan on October 26. A number of Trump supporters who showed up to cast their votes dismissed reports that Trump was praising Hitler as they voted for the former president.
Matt Valkner, 49, said both candidates have been negative and he simply wished they would “expose the positive things about their campaigns.”
He stated that his vote for Trump was to “make America great again and get back to more American manufacturing.”
Manufacturing jobs had increased in the United States in the six years before 2016, when Trump was first elected.
But the upward trajectory actually suffered a slowdown during Trump’s first term even before the pandemic broke out in 2020.
While Trump supporters dismissed reports of praise for Hitler, Harris supporters who voted early couldn’t believe Republicans weren’t taking the comments more seriously.
Zachary Willoughby, 25, cast his ballot on the first day of in-person early voting for Harris.
She’s expecting a girl and wants a president who won’t “boast about taking away reproductive rights and won’t be found responsible for sexual abuse.”
She’s expecting a girl and wants a president who won’t “boast about taking away reproductive rights and won’t be found responsible for sexual abuse.”
“I want to say I’m shocked, but I’m not,” he said of Trump’s alleged comments about Hitler.
“Praising autocrats and dictators is not something we should do in the United States,” he said.
“A lot of people don’t really pay attention to the news headlines or trust the news headlines that are coming out right now, and I think they should because that’s a very concerning thing.”
Diane Rice, 63, who also voted for Harris simply shook her head. He doesn’t understand how voting for Trump is even an option.
