With two weeks to go until Election Day, former White House Chief of Staff during the Trump administration, John Kelly, said in two different interviews that former President Donald Trump meets the definition of a fascist.
In two separate interviews with the New York Times, Kelly labeled the former president as an “authoritarian”.
“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 first joined the Trump administration as homeland security secretary and later was White House chief of staff from July 2017 until early 2019. He also said that Trump has spoken highly of Adolf Hitler.
“He commented more than once that, you know, that Hitler did some good things, too,” Kelly said.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung in a statement called Kelly’s claims “debunked stories”.
“President Trump has always honored the service and sacrifice of all of our military men and women,” Cheung said. John Kelly totally beclowned himself by recounting debunked stories about the Trump administration.”
Kelly’s comments came just hours after The Atlantic published a scathing article, saying Trump had privately admired Hitler’s generals “who were totally loyal to him”.
“I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” Trump reportedly said.
Also in the Atlantic piece was the story of Trump’s response when the family of Vanessa Guillén, the 20-year-old slain soldier at Fort Hood, in Texas. Then-President Trump invited the Guillén family to the White House and offered to help the family, according to the report.
“I saw what happened to your daughter Vanessa, who was a spectacular person, and respected and loved by everybody, including in the military,” Trump said. Later in the conversation, he made a promise: “If I can help you out with the funeral, I’ll help—I’ll help you with that,” he said. “I’ll help you out. Financially, I’ll help you.”
However, the story states that Trump reportedly became angry when the bill came in, instructing new Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to not pay it.
“It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican,” Trump allegedly told Meadows. “Don’t pay it.”
Natalie Khawam, the family’s attorney responded to The Atlantic‘s story, saying the bill to the White House, but no money was ever received by the family from Trump
Trump spokesperson, Alex Pfeiffer, also denied the claims.
“President Donald Trump never said that. This is an outrageous lie from The Atlantic two weeks before the election,” Pfeiffer said.
