Trump's Alleged Admiration for Hitler's Generals: A New Perspective from John Kelly

[Social Media]

 

In a recent interview with *The Atlantic*, retired General John Kelly, who served as White House chief of staff under former President Donald Trump, revealed a startling claim: Trump once praised Adolf Hitler’s generals for their loyalty. This revelation, shared by Kelly in an interview with editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, supports similar claims made in Peter Baker and Susan Glasser's book, *The Divider: Trump in the White House*.

 

"Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, on his interview with John Kelly: “I think this was probably the most shocking for him — the idea that Donald Trump would regularly tell him how much he admired Hitler.”

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, on his interview with John Kelly: “I think this was probably the most shocking for him — the idea that Donald Trump would regularly tell him how much he admired Hitler.” pic.twitter.com/znU48mcatG

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 23, 2024

 

According to the book, Trump questioned Kelly during his tenure as chief of staff, asking, “Why can’t you be like the German generals?” This question referred to Hitler’s military leaders, and when Kelly attempted to clarify by reminding Trump that German generals had, in fact, attempted to assassinate Hitler on multiple occasions, Trump reportedly remained unmoved. “No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him,” Trump insisted, as recounted by Baker and Glasser.

 

Goldberg, intrigued by this exchange, sought further clarification from Kelly during their recent interview. Kelly explained that during their conversation, he had asked Trump if he was referring to the generals of Otto von Bismarck or those who served the Kaiser, knowing that Trump likely had little knowledge of German history. But Trump made it clear he was talking about Hitler’s generals. Kelly explained to Trump that Erwin Rommel, one of Hitler's most renowned generals, had been forced to commit suicide after his involvement in a plot to overthrow the dictator. However, according to Kelly, Trump remained unfamiliar with Rommel and the broader context of the Third Reich's military history.

 

Goldberg’s report suggests that Trump had become increasingly fascinated with authoritarian leadership during his presidency. According to Goldberg, two individuals who overheard Trump in private conversations at the White House recounted him saying, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” and emphasized Trump’s admiration for those who were "totally loyal" and unquestioningly followed orders.

 

The Trump campaign has strongly denied these allegations. Alex Pfeiffer, a Trump campaign adviser, told *The Atlantic*, “This is absolutely false. President Trump never said this.” In a statement shared with *The Hill*, Pfeiffer reiterated Trump’s respect for the U.S. military, saying that Trump “spent his life caring for America’s military heroes” and highlighted his efforts to support veterans, including securing a significant pay raise for the military during his time in office. 

 

The campaign's statement further emphasized Trump's record of advocating for veterans, both as president and as a private citizen, asserting that there "has been no greater advocate for our brave military men and women than Donald J. Trump."

 

This is not the first time Kelly has confirmed exchanges between himself and Trump regarding controversial topics. Earlier this year, a book by CNN's Jim Sciutto quoted Kelly recounting Trump’s statement that “Hitler did some good things,” a claim that has also been vehemently denied by the Trump campaign. The campaign responded by accusing Kelly of suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome" and suggested that he should "seek professional help."

 

Additionally, Kelly had previously confirmed that Trump called fallen U.S. servicemembers “suckers” during a 2018 trip, a remark that sparked widespread outrage. Trump, however, denied making the comment and accused Kelly of lying, suggesting that his former chief of staff harbored personal animosity.

 

As the controversy surrounding these claims continues to swirl, the competing narratives between Kelly's detailed accounts and the Trump campaign's firm rejections highlight the ongoing debate over Trump’s views on loyalty, military leadership, and his admiration for authoritarian figures.

 

Based on a report from the Hill | X 2024-10-24

 

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

Just in time for the election. Was Kelly unable to put out this a month ago, or is it a last act of desperation to defeat Trump?

[Tug]

45 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Just in time for the election. Was Kelly unable to put out this a month ago, or is it a last act of desperation to defeat Trump?

4star generals generally don’t comment on political matters obiously general Kelley feels duty bound to warn the country of the consequences of another trump administration.trump’s comments of poisoning the blood of the country,the enemy within,the threats against the medias,the weaponization of the justice department,the threats of going after political opponents,the attacking of defenless minorities…..all straight out of the fascist playbook….no doubt about it furthermore who would you believe a man who has served his country honorably for decades or a fraud convicted 34 times over who is still dodging the most serious cases???

[Jingthing]

54 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Just in time for the election. Was Kelly unable to put out this a month ago, or is it a last act of desperation to defeat Trump?

Kelly says the trigger to go public was Trump's recent promises to use thr military against his domestic political enemies. Fascist stuff.

[Jingthing]

Personally I don't want to see him locked up. I want him to flee to one of the authoritarian dictatorships that he so envies and admires.

Edited October 23 by Jingthing

[theblether]

Kelly cannot provide a single corroborating witness. He would have had more credibility if he had mentioned this either when he resigned or during the 2020 campaign. Harris should have avoided this story like the plague. 

 

This is not an October Surprise, this is an October Suicide by Harris. 

 

You would need to be crazed to have the family of a murdered soldier come out against this fake report and to then include it in your campaign. It is unbelievable stuff. 

 

Does Harris really need a war of words with the family of a Hispanic murder victim just now? It's just incredible. 

 

Goldberg has effed this up and Harris has followed him down the most toxic rabbit hole in modern US politics. Shocking. 

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 minutes ago, theblether said:

Kelly cannot provide a single corroborating witness. He would have had more credibility if he had mentioned this either when he resigned or during the 2020 campaign. Harris should have avoided this story like the plague. 

 

This is not an October Surprise, this is an October Suicide by Harris. 

 

You would need to be crazed to have the family of a murdered soldier come out against this fake report and to then include it in your campaign. It is unbelievable stuff. 

 

Does Harris really need a war of words with the family of a Hispanic murder victim just now? It's just incredible. 

 

Goldberg has effed this up and Harris has followed him down the most toxic rabbit hole in modern US politics. Shocking. 

 

 

IMO that is why they waited so long to publish it, so Trump has less time to refute it.

IMO absolutely despicable and born in desperation as they must know that her chances are diminishing every day.

 

I hope most voters see this vile attempt to smear Trump at the last minute for what it is and ignore it.

[renaissanc]

The Dem-Marxists are getting desperate.  "Trump is Hitler,  Stalin, Musolini,  Darth Veder, the most evil person in the universe, Satan." ... blah, blah, blah.

[theblether]

1 minute ago, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO that is why they waited so long to publish it, so Trump has less time to refute it.

IMO absolutely despicable and born in desperation as they must know that her chances are diminishing every day.

 

I hope most voters see this vile attempt to smear Trump at the last minute for what it is and ignore it.

 

He doesn't need to refute it. The family have put the boot in. 

 

It is a stunning backfire and I am already seeing Democrats vomiting at the utter stupidity of Harris putting her name to this AFTER - WELL AFTER - the family condemned the article as lies. 

[Jingthing]

10 minutes ago, theblether said:

Kelly cannot provide a single corroborating witness. He would have had more credibility if he had mentioned this either when he resigned or during the 2020 campaign. Harris should have avoided this story like the plague. 

 

This is not an October Surprise, this is an October Suicide by Harris. 

 

You would need to be crazed to have the family of a murdered soldier come out against this fake report and to then include it in your campaign. It is unbelievable stuff. 

 

Does Harris really need a war of words with the family of a Hispanic murder victim just now? It's just incredible. 

 

Goldberg has effed this up and Harris has followed him down the most toxic rabbit hole in modern US politics. Shocking. 

 

 

You're deflecting from the Hitler stuff. I would say the maga fascists are desperate now. 

[Jingthing]

6 minutes ago, renaissanc said:

The Dem-Marxists are getting desperate.  "Trump is Hitler,  Stalin, Musolini,  Darth Veder, the most evil person in the universe, Satan." ... blah, blah, blah.

Stop lying. Nobody is saying Trump IS Hitler.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, theblether said:

 

He doesn't need to refute it. The family have put the boot in. 

 

It is a stunning backfire and I am already seeing Democrats vomiting at the utter stupidity of Harris putting her name to this AFTER - WELL AFTER - the family condemned the article as lies. 

The danger is that the MSM will suppress that, so people will get only one side, the side unfavourable to Trump. Like the laptop, the truth may only come out too late.

[Jingthing]

7 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO that is why they waited so long to publish it, so Trump has less time to refute it.

IMO absolutely despicable and born in desperation as they must know that her chances are diminishing every day.

 

I hope most voters see this vile attempt to smear Trump at the last minute for what it is and ignore it.

We already explained that but you are deaf to anything that punctures your Trump worship bubble.

[theblether]

1 minute ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The danger is that the MSM will suppress that, so people will get only one side, the side unfavourable to Trump. Like the laptop, the truth may only come out too late.

 

The MSM avoided the story earlier. The takedown by the family and other direct witnesses was brutal and rendered the entire article toxic. People like Jennifer Rubin were cracking up as they thought it should be top line all day. 

 

Harris made it headline news. A serious error. 

[Jingthing]

4 minutes ago, theblether said:

 

The MSM avoided the story earlier. The takedown by the family and other direct witnesses was brutal and rendered the entire article toxic. People like Jennifer Rubin were cracking up as they thought it should be top line all day. 

 

Harris made it headline news. A serious error. 

Harris is talking about the Hitler stuff and Trump's fascism. You are deflecting. SHAME ON YOU.

[theblether]

2 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

You're thinking of Donald Trump, dear heart.

Also don't even try to steal Tim Walz's schtick. You can't pull it off.

 

No, it was you. I can't be bothered going back to.the post as you are not worth the effort. 

[Danderman123]

The Trump Hitler worship isn't going away.

[Jingthing]

3 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Not debunked.

 

Trump never paid for the funeral.

 

Do you have other information?

Paid or not paid the report of his racist anti Latino rant (which the family would have never heard) upon hearing about the size of bill is 100 percent believable. He's a racist sleazeball. 100 percent. They're eating the cats. They're eating the dogs. They're vermin. 

Edited October 23 by Jingthing

[theblether]

2 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Not debunked.

 

Trump never paid for the funeral.

 

Do you have other information?

 

Debunked by at least four people so far, all of whom were in the room. 

 

This is a horror story in the making for Harris. 

[Jingthing]

Just now, theblether said:

 

Debunked by at least four people so far, all of whom were in the room. 

 

This is a horror story in the making for Harris. 

You are coming off as delusional. Trump speaks his love of dictators openly as has for years. 

[theblether]

The Harris campaign in one photo. Utter clownery. 

 

 

[spidermike007]

Kelly is a man of great honor who has served his country with nothing but dignity and grace. He is simply telling it like it is and he's doing it at the right time. If you're going to make a decision to vote for Trump it's important to at least know who you're voting for. There's no question that Kelly is simply speaking truth, as unappealing and as horrific as that truth may be. We all know Trump's is a racist, we all know deep down he's a white supremacist, and we all know that he's a huckster and a scam artist. Many of us know that he's in a state of severe cognitive decline, and he is simply not the man for this job. 

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, spidermike007 said:

Kelly is a man of great honor who has served his country with nothing but dignity and grace. He is simply telling it like it is and he's doing it at the right time. If you're going to make a decision to vote for Trump it's important to at least know who you're voting for. There's no question that Kelly is simply speaking truth, as unappealing and as horrific as that truth may be. We all know Trump's is a racist, we all know deep down he's a white supremacist, and we all know that he's a huckster and a scam artist. Many of us know that he's in a state of severe cognitive decline, and he is simply not the man for this job. 

Totally agreed. Anyone with any functioning brain in judging the character of Trump vs. Kelly knows the score. Trump is one of the most disgusting human beings to ever come out of the American culture. That he might soon take power to be dictator by a democratic election is I'm sorry deeply damning on the state of the American nation. 

[Walker88]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Just in time for the election. Was Kelly unable to put out this a month ago, or is it a last act of desperation to defeat Trump?

Though you are probably a Nazi sympathizer, since your love muffin is so enamored of Hitler, Gen Kelly made these initial remarks years ago, along with his comment about the felon calling deceased and disabled soldiers "suckers and losers", asking Gen Kelly (who lost a son in service) "I don't get it; what's in it for them?", and asking Gen Kelly (when on a launch in Pearl Harbor on the way to the sunken USS Arizona, "So what's this boat all about?".

 

If you want to put blame somewhere, you can criticize The Atlantic magazine, who chose to publish this tweo weeks before the election.

 

Now go back to Heil the felon.

[NickyLouie]

10 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Totally agreed. Anyone with any functioning brain in judging the character of Trump vs. Kelly knows the score. Trump is one of the most disgusting human beings to ever come out of the American culture. That he might soon take power to be dictator by a democratic election is I'm sorry deeply damning on the state of the American nation. 

 

Get your apology post ready.

 

#winning

 

 

[Jingthing]

5 minutes ago, NickyLouie said:

 

Get your apology post ready.

 

#winning

 

 

Bizarre. 

You seem to be postering to intimidate anyone who doesn't worship dear fascist leader.

This isn't the place for such garbage.

[Danderman123]

25 minutes ago, theblether said:

 

Debunked by at least four people so far, all of whom were in the room. 

 

This is a horror story in the making for Harris. 

Got a receipt for Trump paying for the funeral?

 

All you have is a report that Trump spoke nice to the family. You don't have anything about what he said back in the White House.

[Walker88]

41 minutes ago, renaissanc said:

The Dem-Marxists are getting desperate.  "Trump is Hitler,  Stalin, Musolini,  Darth Veder, the most evil person in the universe, Satan." ... blah, blah, blah.

Are you really as ignorant as you look with that silly comment?

 

Got a buzzword like "Marxist", eh? Clearly you have no clue what its meaning is, but your Dunning-Kreuger Effect prompts you to pretend.

 

Perhaps you haven't noticed, but the US economy, since 2020, is growing 3 times faster than the average G7 economy, job growth under Biden-Harris has shattered every existing record, the stock market is at an all time high, and even the average income in the US' poorest State---Mississippi---is higher than the average income in the UK, Canada and Germany.

 

Capitalism is alive and well under Biden-Harris. Nothing "Marxist" about it. Perhaps if you had a decent education and marketable job skills or talents, you would have benefited from the economy under Biden-Harris. Sadly, the modern economy is leaving behind Birth Lottery losers, and nobody---especially not the current (R) candidate, can do anything about that. Darwin increasingly rules. Luckily, there are Blue States like CA, NY, NJ, and New England, most of whom are net contributors to the Federal Govt, so that the losers in Red States can be taken care of.

 

Biden-Harris inherited a Recession and 6.8% UE from the last guy, and turned it all around. It's the opposite of the incompetent last guy, who inherited a growing economy and 4.8% UE from Obama. Dems know Capitalism. The stock market performs better under Dems than Repubs. Also, not a single Repub President ever, including before that Party became a cult, has ever NOT presided over the start of a Recession. Not a single one, going all the way back to Lincoln.

[theblether]

3 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Got a receipt for Trump paying for the funeral?

 

All you have is a report that Trump spoke nice to the family. You don't have anything about what he said back in the White House.

 

The family confirmed the funeral costs were covered by the army, as they should have been. 

 

Next? 

[Danderman123]

6 minutes ago, theblether said:

 

The family confirmed the funeral costs were covered by the army, as they should have been. 

 

Next? 

So, Trump didn't pay, as he promised.

 

The Atlantic reported that Natalie Khawam, the Guillén family's attorney, said she had sent the bill for the funeral to the White House, and that no money was ever received by the family from Trump.

Edited October 24 by Danderman123