The presidential election was hit Tuesday with what might be called an October non-surprise: Reports in The New York Times and The Atlantic in which John Kelly, the former Marine general who was the longest-serving White House chief of staff under President Donald Trump, said that Trump fits the definition of a fascist and would govern as a dictator if allowed. “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 told the Times.
Kelly also said that Trump had praised Adolf Hitler, remarked that he wanted generals like Hitler’s and repeatedly disparaged American military leaders and servicemembers, including using the terms “suckers” and “losers.”
“He’s certainly the only president that has all but rejected what America is all about, and what makes America America, in terms of our Constitution, in terms of our values, the way we look at everything, to include family and government — he’s certainly the only president that I know of, certainly in my lifetime, that was like that,” Kelly told the Times.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung denied the stories. “John Kelly has totally beclowned himself with these debunked stories he has fabricated because he failed to serve his President well while working as Chief of Staff and currently suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Cheung said in a statement to reporters.
Yet we called the new reports a non-surprise because they largely reiterate or confirm earlier reports — only this time, there are audio recordings of the comments by Kelly, who reportedly decided to speak out again because of Trump’s recent comments about using the National Guard and the military against what he called the “enemy from within.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that President Joe Biden was aware of the latest reports but was not surprised by them — and that Biden believes Trump is a fascist.
Vice President Kamala Harris said that the reports show Trump wants a military loyal to him, not to the Constitution. “This is a window into who Donald Trump really is from the people who know him best, from the people who worked with him side by side in the Oval Office and in the Situation Room,” Harris said Wednesday. “Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable. And in a second term, people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guardrails against his propensities and his actions. Those who once tried to stop him from pursuing his worst impulses would no longer be there and no longer be there to rein him in.”
