Trump's one-time chief of staff says former president meets definition of a fascist

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's longest-serving chief of staff is warning that the Republican presidential nominee meets the definition of a fascist and that while in office, Trump suggested that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler "did some good things."

The comments from John Kelly, the retired Marine general who worked for Trump in the White House from 2017 to 2019, came in interviews published Tuesday in The New York Times and The Atlantic. They build on past warnings from former top Trump officials as the election enters its final two weeks.

Kelly has long been critical of Trump and previously accused him of calling veterans killed in combat "suckers" and "losers." His new warnings emerged as Trump seeks a second term vowing to dramatically expand his use of the military at home and suggesting he would use force to go after Americans he considers "enemies from within."

"He commented more than once that, 'You know, Hitler did some good things, too,'" Kelly recalled to the Times. Kelly said he would usually quash the conversation by saying "nothing (Hitler) did, you could argue, was good," but that Trump would occasionally bring up the topic again.

In his interview with the Atlantic, Kelly recalled that when Trump raised the idea of needing "German generals," Kelly would ask if he meant "Bismarck's generals," referring to Otto von Bismarck, the chancellor who oversaw the unification of Germany. "Surely you can't mean Hitler's generals," Kelly recalled asking Trump. To which the former president responded, "Yeah, yeah, Hitler's generals."

Trump's campaign denied the accounts Tuesday, with campaign spokesman Steven Cheung saying that Kelly had "beclowned himself with these debunked stories he has fabricated."

Polls show the race is tight in swing states, and both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are crisscrossing the country making their final pitches to the sliver of undecided voters. Harris' campaign has spent considerable time reaching out to independent voters, using the support of longtime Republicans such as former Rep. Liz Cheney and comments like Kelly's to urge past Trump voters to reject his candidacy in November.

Harris' campaign held a call with reporters Tuesday to elevate the voices of retired military officials who highlighted how many of the officials who worked with Trump now oppose his campaign.

"People that know him best are most opposed to him, his presidency," said retired Army Brig. Gen. Steve Anderson.

Anderson said he wished Kelly would fully back Harris over Trump, something he has yet to do. But retired Army reserve Col. Kevin Carroll, a former senior counselor to Kelly, said Wednesday that the former top Trump official would "rather chew broken glass than vote for Donald Trump."

Before serving as Trump's chief of staff, Kelly worked as the former president's secretary of homeland security, where he oversaw Trump's attempts to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Kelly was also at the forefront of the Trump administration's crackdown in immigration policy that led to the separation of thousands of immigrant parents and their children along the southern border. Those actions made him a villain to many on the left, including Harris.

Kelly "was the architect of the Trump Administration's cruel child separation policy. Now he will profit off the separation of families. It's unethical. We are better than this," Harris wrote in 2019 during her run for president, citing Kelly joining the board of a company operating the largest facility for unaccompanied migrant children.

In his interview with the Times, Kelly also said Trump met the definition of a fascist. After reading the definition aloud, including that fascism was "a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader," Kelly concluded Trump "certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure."

Kelly added that Trump often fumed at any attempt to constrain his power, and that "he would love to be" a dictator.

"He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government," Kelly told the Times. Adding later, "I think he'd love to be just like he was in business — he could tell people to do things and they would do it, and not really bother too much about whether what the legalities were and whatnot."

Kelly is not the first former top Trump administration official to cast the former president as a threat.

Retired Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, who served as Trump's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Bob Woodward in his recent book "War" that Trump was "fascist to the core" and "the most dangerous person to this country." And retired Gen. Jim Mattis, who worked as secretary of defense under Trump, reportedly later told Woodward that he agreed with Milley's assessment.

Throughout Trump's political rise, the businessman-turned-politician benefited from the support of military veterans.

AP VoteCast found that about 6 in 10 military veterans said they voted for Trump in 2020, as did just over half of those with a veteran in the household. Among voters in this year's South Carolina Republican primary, AP VoteCast found that close to two-thirds of military veterans and people in veteran households voted for Trump over former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Trump's toughest opponent in the 2024 Republican primary.