John Kelly doubles down on claims Donald Trump is a Hitler fan and thinks he ‘did some good things’

Donald Trump’s longest-serving White House chief of staff has doubled down on claims that the former president was a fan of Adolf Hitler, warning that he would “rule like a dictator if allowed to do so.”

John Kelly, who served on Trump’s staff from 2017 to 2019, in a scathing new interview with the New York Times has accused the Republican candidate of being the “definition of fascist” and claims he has no understanding of American history or the Constitution.

Kelly, 74, claimed that Trump once said that “Hitler did some good things” and praised the Nazi dictator for “rebuilding the economy.” Kelly said it too The Atlantic Ocean On Tuesday, Trump said he wanted his staff to be more like “German generals in World War II” because they were “completely loyal” to Hitler.

Additionally, the retired Marine veteran doubled down on previous claims that Trump labeled U.S. service members who died or were injured as “suckers and losers,” adding that the ex-president “may be the only American citizen who feels that way about those who gave them money.” lives or served their country’.

A Trump campaign spokesman responded to Kelly’s claims in a statement to The Times, saying the former political adviser “has completely outed himself with these debunked stories that he has fabricated.”

Kelly, who served on the White House staff for the Republican Party from 2017 to 2019, has accused Trump (pictured on Tuesday) of being the ‘definition of fascist’ in a scathing new interview and claims he lacks understanding of American history or the Constitution.

Kelly claimed his former boss “certainly prefers the dictatorial approach to government” and “never accepted that he was not the most powerful man in the world.”

While reading from a textbook definition of fascism during an audio interview with the Times, he described the ideology as a “far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy’.

Kelly said that, in “my experience,” he has found that Trump believes these ideologies “would work better in terms of governing America,” adding, “He certainly falls under the general definition of fascist.”

He also claimed that Trump was irritated by the limitations of his power and longed for “the ability to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted,” which Kelly said was Trump’s experience in the business world.

In a separate interview with The Atlantic, Kelly claimed that Trump became more interested in the “benefits of dictatorship” and having “absolute control of the military” as his tenure in the Oval Office came to an end.

“I need the kind of generals Hitler had,” Trump reportedly said during a private conversation at the White House. “People who were completely loyal to him, who followed orders.”

Trump spokesman Alex Pfeiffer denied the alleged conversation in an email to the magazine, saying, “This is absolutely false. President Trump never said this.”

Kelly said, in “my experience,” Trump believed fascist ideologies would “work better in terms of governing America.” The pair are pictured together during a briefing with senior military leaders in the White House Cabinet Room in October 2017

President Donald Trump speaks with Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly and Vice President Mike Pence before laying flowers on the grave of Kelly’s son, First Lt. Robert Kelly, at Arlington National Cemetery on May 29, 2017. Lt. Kelly was killed in 2010 while he led a patrol in Afghanistan

Kelly, who has also been questioned about the alleged comments, claims he and Trump spoke at length about the “German generals” in World War II.

“You mean the Emperor’s generals? You don’t mean Hitler’s generals, do you?’ Kelly claims he asked Trump, to which he claims the then-president replied, “Yes, yes, Hitler’s generals.”

The former staffer said he “explained” to Trump that Hitler’s generals had “tried three times to assassinate the Austrian-born leader” and had almost succeeded.

He claims Trump responded, “No, no, no, they were completely loyal to him.”

The retired political consultant also claims he had to instruct Trump that he “can never say anything good” about Hitler, even though the then-president believed the dictator “did some good things.”

Similarly, Kelly claims that Trump asked him in 2018 who the “good guys” were during World War I, advising that American presidents “remember that the ‘good guys’ in any conflict are the countries allied with the United States ‘.

Kelly was also questioned about reports that Trump had expressed disdain for disabled veterans and soldiers who died in combat.

“President Trump used the terms ‘losers’ and ‘suckers’ to describe soldiers who gave their lives in defense of our country. There are a lot of people who heard him say these things,” he told The Atlantic.

A Trump campaign spokesman responded to Kelly’s claims, saying the former political consultant “has totally denied himself with these debunked stories that he has fabricated.” Donald Trump is pictured at a campaign rally in North Carolina on Tuesday

He claimed Trump didn’t want to be seen in a parade of military amputees because “it doesn’t look good,” refused to visit the graves of fallen soldiers in France and “showed open contempt for a Gold Star family” during his 2016 campaign .

Trump, according to Kelly, did not understand the sacrifice of slain soldiers and reportedly once asked, “Why do you think people who get killed are heroes?”

Kelly says he “could never understand why he was that way” and argued that “selflessness is something he just didn’t understand.”

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement Axiosdenied that the Republican nominee ever made those comments, saying, “President Trump has always honored the service and sacrifice of all our military men and women.”

Tuesday’s comments marked the former top aides’ most extensive public remarks about the former Republican president and the Republican Party’s 2024 nominee.

Kelly declined to endorse any candidate for the White House, but said that “it is very dangerous to have the wrong person elected to high office.”