John Kelly, who served as White House chief of staff during the Trump administration, said in a series of recent interviews that the former president meets the definition of a fascist.
The remark, published Tuesday, was made during one of Kelly’s interviews with The New York Times. Audio of his comments was made available online.
“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,” Kelly said.
Kelly, who first joined the Trump administration as homeland security secretary and later served as White House chief of staff from July 2017 until early 2019, also said that Trump had spoken positively about Adolf Hitler.
“He commented more than once that, you know, that Hitler did some good things, too,” Kelly said.
Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesperson, said in a statement that Kelly “totally beclowned himself” by recounting “debunked stories” about the Trump administration.
“President Trump has always honored the service and sacrifice of all of our military men and women,” Cheung said.
Kelly’s recounting of Trump’s remarks on Hitler comes after The Atlantic reported earlier Tuesday that the former president had privately admired Hitler’s generals “who were totally loyal to him,” and followed orders, privately saying in a conversation at the White House, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.”
Kelly told NBC News in 2022 that when Trump complained about U.S. generals, he would tell Trump that their foremost loyalty was to the Constitution and the rule of law.
More recently, Democrats have likened some of Trump’s rhetoric to Hitler’s. In December, Trump sparked backlash over a remark he made at a rally in New Hampshire in which he said that immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country.” Hitler used the term “blood poisoning” in his manifesto “Mein Kampf” to denigrate immigration and the mixing of races. Trump has denied reading the text.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, referred to The Atlantic’s reporting on Trump’s admiration of Hitler’s generals during a campaign rally in Racine, Wisconsin, on Tuesday night, saying “that makes me sick as hell, and it should make you sick.”
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