John Kelly, the retired Marine Corps general who worked for Trump in the White House from 2017 to 2019 as chief of staff, warns that the Republican presidential candidate meets the definition of a fascist.
Donald Trump's longest-serving chief of staff warns that the Republican presidential candidate meets the definition of a fascist and that while in office, Trump suggested that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler “did some good things.”
The comments by John Kelly, the retired Marine general who worked for Trump in the White House from 2017 to 2019, appeared in interviews published Tuesday in The New York Times and The Atlantic. They build on earlier warnings from former top Trump officials as the election enters its final two weeks.
Kelly has long been a critic of Trump, previously accusing him of calling veterans killed in combat “suckers” and “losers.” His new warnings came as Trump seeks a second term by promising to dramatically expand his use of the military in the country and suggesting he would use force to go after Americans he considers “enemies from within.”
“He commented more than once that, 'You know, Hitler did some good things too,'” Kelly recalled to the Times. Kelly said he usually silenced the conversation by saying that “nothing (Hitler) did, you could say, was good,” but that Trump would occasionally bring it up again.
In his interview with The Atlantic, Kelly recalled that when Trump raised the idea of needing “German generals,” Kelly asked him if he meant “Bismarck's generals,” referring to Otto von Bismarck, the chancellor who oversaw the unification of Germany. . “Surely you're not referring to Hitler's generals,” Kelly recalled asking Trump. To which the former president responded: “Yes, yes, Hitler's generals.”
The Trump campaign denied the accounts Tuesday, with campaign spokesman Steven Cheung saying Kelly had “deceived himself with these debunked stories that he's made up.”
Polls show the race is close in key states, and both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are crisscrossing the country making their final pitches to the small group of undecided voters. Harris' campaign has spent considerable time reaching out to independent voters, using support from longtime Republicans like former Rep. Liz Cheney and comments like Kelly's to urge former Trump voters to reject her candidacy in November.
Harris' campaign held a call with reporters Tuesday to elevate the voices of retired military officers who highlighted how many of the officials who worked with Trump now oppose his campaign.
“The people who know him best are the most opposed to him, to his presidency,” said retired Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson.
Anderson said he wished Kelly would fully endorse Harris instead of Trump, something he has not yet done. But retired Army Reserve Col. Kevin Carroll, a former senior adviser to Kelly, said Wednesday that the former top Trump official would “rather chew on broken glass than vote for Donald Trump.”
Before serving as Trump's chief of staff, Kelly worked as the former president's secretary of homeland security, where he oversaw Trump's attempts to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. Kelly was also at the forefront of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration policy that led to the separation of thousands of immigrant parents and their children along the southern border. Those actions made him a villain to many on the left, including Harris.
Kelly is not the first former senior Trump administration official to present the former president as a threat.
Retired Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, who served as Trump's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Bob Woodward in his recent book “War” that Trump was “a fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person to this country.” And retired Gen. Jim Mattis, who served as defense secretary under Trump, reportedly later told Woodward that he agreed with Milley's assessment.
Throughout Trump's political rise, the businessman-turned-politician benefited from the support of military veterans.
AP VoteCast found that about 6 in 10 military veterans said they voted for Trump in 2020, as did just over half of those who had a veteran in their household. Among voters in this year's South Carolina Republican primary, AP VoteCast found that about two-thirds of military veterans and people in veterans homes voted for Trump over former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the Trump's toughest opponent in the 2024 Republican primary.