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He meets the definition of a “fascist”

It's not always obvious what constitutes an “October Surprise.” The concept is based on the idea that there are sometimes unexpected developments that shake up the public discussion in the run-up to election day and in turn affect the results.

All in all, a former White House chief of staff — who also happens to be a retired four-star general and decorated veteran — declaring two weeks before the election that his former boss met the definition of a “fascist” would probably have to meet the standard for an “October surprise”. NBC News reported:

John Kelly, who served as White House chief of staff during the Trump administration, said in a series of recent interviews that former President Donald Trump meets the definition of a fascist. The remark, published Tuesday, came from one of Kelly's interviews with The New York Times. Audio of his comments has been made available online.

“Certainly the former president is on the far right, he is certainly an authoritarian leader, he admires people who are dictators – that's what he said. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist,” Kelly told the newspaper on the record.

He also said Trump “prefers the dictatorial approach to government,” repeatedly pushed the idea of ​​using the military against Americans on American soil and looked down on those who were handicapped on the battlefield.

The comments come on the heels of retired Gen. Mark Milley, Trump's former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also publicly stating that he now believes the Republican nominee is “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person in this country.”

In other words, in the final days of the 2024 election season, two retired four-star generals — both handpicked by Trump for powerful positions on his team — publicly warned the American public that their former boss should be viewed as a fascist.

Of course, Kelly has spent a lot of time and effort in recent years convincing the country that the Republican nominee poses a dangerous threat. Kelly, who also served as Trump's homeland security secretary, said he recognized the Republican was guilty of “poisoning” people, had “serious character problems” and was not a “real man.”

Kelly has also said that Trump “has no idea what America stands for and what America is about” and that he 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 directed his chief of staff to use the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department to target his critics and perceived political enemies.

But until now he has never addressed the issue of “fascism”; he said nothing about it so close to an election; And those weren't the only relevant comments Kelly has made in recent days.

As we discussed, the retired general also spoke publicly with The Atlantic's Jeff Goldberg, explaining that Trump also privately praised “Hitler's generals.” (A Trump spokesman disputed the accuracy of the reporting. Steven Cheung, a GOP campaign spokesman, also told NBC News that Kelly had “completely embarrassed himself” by telling “debunked stories” about the administration.)

With that in mind, Kelly also told the Times regarding Trump: “He's said more than once, 'You know, Hitler did some good things, too.'”

To state the obvious: modern American politicians do not think or speak this way. But equally remarkable are the unprecedented circumstances: the Republican Party has nominated an unpredictable criminal running on an authoritarian platform to the highest office in the land, and prominent former members of that candidate's team continue to issue dire warnings about how dangerous he would be in the event a return would be to power.

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