Trump wanted generals like Hitler, claims John Kelly

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's longest-serving chief of staff is warning that the Republican presidential nominee 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 Marine general who worked for Trump in the White House from 2017 to 2019, came in interviews with The New York Times and The Atlantic. They build on a growing series of warnings from former top Trump officials as the election enters its final weeks.

Kelly has long been critical of Trump and has previously accused him of doing so Calling Veterans “suckers” and “losers” killed in battle. Still, his new warnings came just two weeks before Election Day, as Trump seeks a second term dramatically expands its use of the military at home and suggested he would use violence to crack down on Americans he considers “enemies from within.”

“He said more than once, 'You know, Hitler did some good things too,'” Kelly said recalled to the Times. Kelly said he would typically end the conversation by saying, “Nothing (Hitler) did was, one could argue, good,” but that Trump would occasionally bring up the topic again.

In his Interview with The AtlanticKelly recalled that when Trump raised the idea of ​​needing “German generals,” Kelly asked if he meant “Bismarck's generals,” referring to Otto von Bismarck, the former chancellor of the German Empire who oversaw the unification of Germany monitored. “Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals,” Kelly recalled Trump saying. To which the former president replied: “Yes, yes, Hitler’s generals.”

Trump's campaign team denied these stories on Tuesday. Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, argued that Kelly had “embarrassed himself with these debunked stories that he made up.”

Polls show the race is tight in a number of swing states and both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are crisscrossing the country, casting their final votes ahead of the rest of the undecided voters.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris' vice president and who served in the Army National Guard for 24 years in various units and jobs, was quick to use Tuesday night's interviews to attack Trump.

“Guys, the guardrails are gone,” Walz said in Wisconsin. “Trump is falling into this madness – a former president of the United States and presidential candidate of the United States says he wants generals like Adolf Hitler.”

Kelly also said in his interview with the Times that Trump meets the definition of a fascist. After reading the definition aloud, noting, among other things, that fascism is “a far-right authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader,” Kelly concluded that Trump “certainly fits into the general definition falls from fascism”.

Kelly added that Trump is often angry at any attempt to limit his power and that he would “love to be a dictator.”

“He certainly prefers the dictatorial approach to government,” Kelly told The Times. He later added: “I think he would like to be like he does in business – he could tell people to do things and they would do it and not worry too much about whether the laws apply and so on.”

Kelly is not the first former top Trump administration official to portray the former president as a threat. Retired Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, who served as Trump's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Bob Woodward in his recently published book “War.” that Trump is “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person for this country.” And retired Gen. Jim Mattis, who served as U.S. Secretary of Defense under Trump, He reportedly later told Woodward that he agreed with Milley's assessment.