John Kelly, the former Marine general who was Donald Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff, says he believes Trump meets the definition of a fascist. Disturbed by Trump’s recent comments about using the U.S. military against his political opponents, Kelly gave three on-the-record interviews to a New York Times reporter regarding the Donald’s character.
John Kelly, Donald Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff, said Trump met the definition of a fascist and would try to govern like a dictator if elected. https://t.co/neI4bkLGNk pic.twitter.com/puwbHuUq8U
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 23, 2024
From the New York Times:
He said that, in his opinion, Mr. Trump met the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of law.
He discussed and confirmed previous reports that Mr. Trump had made admiring statements about Hitler, had expressed contempt for disabled veterans and had characterized those who died on the battlefield for the United States as “losers” and “suckers” — comments first reported in 2020 by The Atlantic.
In response to a question about previous stories about Mr. Trump having disdain for disabled veterans, Mr. Kelly said Mr. Trump did not want to be seen in public with those who had lost limbs on the battlefield.
“He would just say: ‘Look, it just doesn’t look good for me.’”
“He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government,” Mr. Kelly said.
“I think he’d love to be just like he was in business — he could tell people to do things and they would do it, and not really bother too much about whether what the legalities were and whatnot,” he said.
Kelly also says that Trump admired how German generals were “obedient” to Hitler. In the audio interview clip below, Kelly notes that Trump said on multiple occasions, “Hitler did some good things, too.”
Kelly on tape saying Trump praised Hitler multiple times pic.twitter.com/JWZjTwbc4y
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 23, 2024
To be clear – John Kelly is a four-star U.S. Marines general and a lifelong Republican. He was Trump’s longest serving chief of staff. I’m certain the last thing Kelly would want to do is have to come forward with his thoughts on Trump. But he felt compelled to do so. If you can’t take this man’s statements seriously, then you probably belong in the “cultist” category. You can hear several sound bites of Kelly speaking to the reporter, Jeffrey Goldberg, below as well as Goldberg answering question about the interviews below. This is as “on the record” as it gets. Vice President Kamala Harris issued this statement in reaction to Gen. Kelly’s remarks:
“It is deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous that Donald Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler, the man who is responsible for the deaths of six million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Americans.
“Yesterday, we learned that Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired four-star general, confirmed that while Donald Trump was president, he said he wanted generals like Adolf Hitler.
“Donald Trump said that because he does not want a military that is loyal to the United States Constitution, he wants a military that is loyal to him. Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable.
“And in a second term, people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guard rails against his propensities and his actions. Those who once tried to stop him from pursuing his worst impulses, would no longer be there and no longer be there to rein him in.”
Vice President Harris: “It is deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous that Donald Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler…this is a window into who Donald Trump really is from the people who know him best.” pic.twitter.com/WKu4xFXRl8
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 23, 2024
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