He also said Trump “prefers a dictatorial approach to government,” repeatedly raised the idea of ​​using the military against Americans on U.S. soil, and looked down on those who were disabled on the battlefield.

The comments come on the heels of retired Gen. Mark Milley, Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who also went on record saying he now believes the Republican nominee is “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person in this world ‘. country.”

In other words, in the final days of the 2024 election season, two retired four-star generals — whom Trump personally handpicked for powerful positions on his team — publicly warned the American public that their former boss should be viewed as a fascist. .

It’s fair to say that Kelly has invested considerable time and effort in recent years to convince the country that the Republican candidate poses a dangerous threat. Kelly, who also served as Trump’s secretary of homeland security, has said he came to the realization that the Republican is guilty of “poisoning” people’s minds, having “serious character issues” and not being “a real be a man”.

Kelly has also said that Trump “has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is about” and “has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution and the rule of law.”

Additionally, Kelly told the New York Times in 2022 that during his presidency, Trump told his chief of staff to use the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department to attack his critics and perceived political enemies.

But until now he has never raised the “fascist” subject; he didn’t say all this just before an election; and these weren’t the only relevant comments Kelly has made in recent days.

As we discussed, the retired general also spoke on the record with The Atlantic’s Jeff Goldberg, explaining that Trump also privately praised “Hitler’s generals.” (A Trump spokesman denied the accuracy of the reporting. Steven Cheung, a Republican campaign spokesman, also told NBC News that Kelly “completely disowned himself” by telling “debunked stories” about the administration.)

It was against this backdrop that Kelly also told the Times, referring to Trump: “He noted more than once, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things too.’”

To go further and state the obvious: modern American political leaders do not think or speak this way. But just as remarkable are the unprecedented circumstances: the Republican Party has nominated an erratic criminal running on an authoritarian platform to the nation’s highest office, and prominent former members of that candidate’s team continue to issue dire warnings about how dangerous he would be if he returned. in power.