So the United States of America is in a tightly contested race for the White House where one candidate allegedly praised Hitler’s generals? Is this where we are?
Okay, back in 2021, Donald Trump’s spokesperson denied that the former president ever made positive remarks about Adolf Hitler. However, recent revelations have cast significant doubt on those denials. A new report by The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg includes startling claims that Trump expressed admiration for the control Hitler’s generals exercised.
Listen, Trump has a thing for authoritarians. He professes his respect for Putin, keeps a picture on his wall of meeting the dictator of North Korea, and the list goes on and on. So is this a stretch to believe?
According to the report, “Trump has frequently voiced his disdain for those who serve in the military and for their devotion to duty, honor, and sacrifice. Former generals who have worked for Trump say that the sole military virtue he prizes is obedience.” The report continues: “As his presidency drew to a close, and in the years since, he has become more and more interested in the advantages of dictatorship, and the absolute control over the military that he believes it would deliver. ‘I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,’ Trump said in a private conversation in the White House, according to two people who heard him say this.”
Despite this, a Trump spokesperson told The Atlantic that the quote is “absolutely false,” insisting that the former president “never said this.”
Of course they denied it. But are the American people buying the denial? We know some are. The ones who wear those bright red hats made in China.
Retired General John Kelly—Trump’s former Homeland Security secretary and White House chief of staff—has gone on the record with Goldberg, confirming the accuracy of the disturbing comments. In the report, Kelly recounts a conversation with Trump about “German generals,” in which Kelly tried to clarify what the president meant: “‘Do you mean Bismarck’s generals?’ I said, ‘Surely, you can’t mean Hitler’s generals?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.’”
And get this, Kelly also corroborated another troubling claim, saying that Trump used derogatory terms like “suckers and losers” to describe American soldiers who died in defense of the country. “There are many, many people who have heard him say these things,” Kelly said, further emphasizing the gravity of Trump’s remarks.
The retired general has openly criticized Trump before. He has described Trump as “poisoning” people’s minds, having “serious character issues,” and being “not a real man.” In various interviews, Kelly has detailed Trump’s disregard for democratic institutions, saying he has “no idea what America stands for” and showing “nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”
What’s more, Kelly’s revelations come amid other accounts that paint a disturbing picture of Trump’s admiration for authoritarianism. In his book The Return of Great Powers, journalist Jim Sciutto reported that Kelly recalled Trump privately stating that Hitler “did some good things.” In The Divider, written by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, Kelly also shared that Trump wanted his generals to be more like “the German generals” of World War II.
What it comes down to is Kelly has been clear that Trump regularly made unethical demands during his presidency, including pushing for the use of the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department to target critics and political opponents. Kelly made it clear to Trump that such actions would be illegal and unethical, but Trump, according to the report, continued to make the demands.
We are now just weeks remaining before the 2024 election, Kelly appears committed to continuing to shed light on what he witnessed during his time at Trump’s side. The retired general’s firsthand accounts offer a sobering look into the former president’s leadership and worldview.
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