Former White House Chief of Staff and Marine General John Kelly has said that Republican ex-president Donald Trump fits in the “general definition of fascist” and that he “prefers the dictator approach to government”.
Speaking to the New York Times, Kelly who once served under Trump’s presidency from 2017 to 2019, remarked that the Republican nominee is the “only president that has all but rejected what America is all about”.
In another interview with the Atlantic, Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff further went on to reveal that while in office, Trump mentioned that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler “did some good things.”
Kelly also recalled Trump saying that he desired for his military personnel to exhibit the same level of respect towards him that the Nazi generals paid to Hitler.
While rejecting all the claims that Kelly made, Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s campaign, told the Times that Kelly made baseless stories and embarrassed himself by telling “debunked stories”.
On the other hand, the US Vice President Kamala Harris expressed her opinion at CNN town hall, if she believes that Trump is a fascist or not, she said twice: “Yes, I do”. She also stressed that if Trump is reelected then he’ll be “a president who admires dictators and is a fascist.”
“I believe Donald Trump is a danger to the well-being and security of the United States of America,” she added and emphasised that Americans need a representative who fulfils “certain standards,” which include “certainly not comparing oneself, in a clearly admiring way, to Hitler.”
Whereas the Democratic governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz expressed his disgust in response to Kelly’s comments about Trump saying that it “makes me sick as hell”. Speaking from a rally on Tuesday in Wisconsin, he further added: “Folks, the guardrails are gone, Trump is descending into this madness.”