Donald Trump is an Authoritarian: John Kelly Exposes His Former Boss
Donald Trump is a clear and present threat to the well-being of America
Yesterday, Trump’s former chief of staff, John F. Kelly, went on the record with The New York Times, warning that Trump is a fascist. The statement by someone so close to the former President is yet another example of how dangerous and unfit Mr. Trump is for the highest office in the nation. With election day under two weeks away, Americans must heed Mr. Kelly’s warning.
John Kelly’s warning
The warnings by Mr. Kelly, reported on by the Times yesterday, were part of a three-part recorded discussion with reporters. Previously, Mr. Kelly had warned about Mr. Trump’s dictatorial tendencies, alleging that the former President expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler. In his interview with the Times, Mr. Kelly explained that:
“Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”
Far from merely expressing poorly thought-out interest in Hitler and his allies, the former President, according to Mr. Kelly, is an active fascist. While Trump’s conduct while in office showed fascist tendencies and other advisors such as Mark Milley have warned that Trump is “fascist to the core,” it is deeply concerning that yet another former advisor to Mr. Trump is warning about Mr. Trump in such terms so close to the election.
Hitler’s Generals and Trump
These warnings from Mr. Milley and Kelly are not the only example of Mr. Trump’s extremism. Yesterday, the Atlantic reported that Trump wanted generals who were loyal to him in the vein of Adolf Hitler’s officers.
Per the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg:
“This week, I asked Kelly about their exchange. He told me that when Trump raised the subject of “German generals,” Kelly responded by asking, “‘Do you mean Bismarck’s generals?’” He went on: “I mean, I knew he didn’t know who Bismarck was, or about the Franco-Prussian War. I said, ‘Do you mean the kaiser’s generals? Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals? And he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.’ I explained to him that Rommel had to commit suicide after taking part in a plot against Hitler.” Kelly told me Trump was not acquainted with Rommel.
Baker and Glasser also reported that Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, feared that Trump’s “‘Hitler-like’ embrace of the big lie about the election would prompt the president to seek out a ‘Reichstag moment.’”
Kelly-a retired Marine general who, as a young man, had volunteered to serve in Vietnam despite actually suffering from bone spurs-said in an interview for the CNN reporter Jim Sciutto’s book, The Return of Great Powers, that Trump praised aspects of Hitler’s leadership. “He said, ‘Well, but Hitler did some good things,’” Kelly recalled. “I said, ‘Well, what?’ And he said, ‘Well, (Hitler) rebuilt the economy.’ But what did he do with that rebuilt economy? He turned it against his own people and against the world.” Kelly admonished Trump: “I said, ‘Sir, you can never say anything good about the guy. Nothing.”
This inclination by the former President to promote and praise the Nazis and their officers is not startling, but it is even more damning since Mr. Trump has touted using the military against his political opponents, arguing that bureaucrats and opposition politicos are “the enemy from within.” Indeed, the former President argued that so-called “radical left lunatics…” are more dangerous than hostile foreign nationals. If Mr. Trump were to have the generals and staff he wants, he would not only undermine the strength of our institutions, but he would threaten the rights of the American people.
Mr. Trump is an existential threat to the American people, and it shouldn’t take any more warnings for people to recognize that reality. We owe it to ourselves to deny this dangerous authoritarian from holding power ever again. Come election day, the American people must send this convicted criminal packing.
Conor Kelly is a political commentator, progressive activist, and host of The Progressive American podcast and newsletter.
Originally published at https://www.dailykos.com on October 23, 2024.