In a somewhat sane political universe, retired General John Kelly’s “October shock” would turn the presidential race on its head.

Kelly, former President Donald Trump’s longest-serving White House chief of staff, spent several hours with a New York Times reporter warning the American people that the man who could be our next president met the definition of a fascist and would rule. like a dictator if he gets the chance. In the resulting article, Kelly describes his former boss as having no understanding of the Constitution or respect for the rule of law.

“Certainly the former president is in far-right territory, he is certainly authoritarian and admires people who are dictators,” Kelly told the Times. “He certainly falls within the general definition of fascist.”

If that’s not enough, Kelly says Trump told him that “Hitler did some good things” and that he wished American generals were more like the Führer. We also get new details about the depth of Trump’s contempt for the men and women who serve in the military, especially those who have been wounded, killed or captured.

(Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung denied Kelly’s claims in a statement, arguing that Kelly was “completely denying himself” by telling “debunked stories” about the Trump administration.)

Of course, it would have been better if this had come out earlier and if more insiders in Trump’s entire entourage had spoken out. But let’s not overlook how amazing – and terrifying – all of this is and what the American people are about to hear in the final two weeks of this campaign. All alarms flash. All warnings sound. And they don’t just come from the Democrats or from those of us who have been Never Trump since he descended his golden escalator.

The warning comes from Trump’s former chief of staff and comes just a week after former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley called Trump “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person ever.” Trump’s former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis – another general – backed Milley’s warning.

Kelly’s interview comes after Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, declined to endorse him and after another former Defense Secretary, Mark Esper, said Trump was a threat to democracy.

It’s all breathtaking – or it would be, if we hadn’t all gone numb over the past nine years.

I call this an October shockinstead of one surprisebecause Trump’s affinity for strongmen and cruelty has been a hallmark of his politics from the beginning, and his rhetoric is increasingly steeped in Reichian rhetoric. He calls migrants “pests” who “poison the blood” of the country. He has openly fantasized about using the military against his countrymen, some of whom he calls “the enemy within.”

In the early days of his first campaign, Trump mocked Senator John McCain’s status as a prisoner of war, saying, “I like people who haven’t been captured.” He called soldiers who had been wounded or killed “losers and losers.” According to The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, Trump also told senior aides “that he didn’t understand why the U.S. government placed so much importance on finding missing soldiers. According to him, they were able to stay behind because they had performed poorly by being captured.

But what is most alarming is Trump’s thirst for power.

Kelly served Trump in the Oval Office for nearly a year and a half. What he saw was a man angry about the limits of his power and who “wasn’t really concerned about what was legal and what wasn’t.”

Kelly describes a man who lacks even a basic appreciation for the foundations of this democracy. “He is certainly the only president who has virtually 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, including family and government – he’s certainly the only president I know, certainly in my lifetime, who was like that,” Kelly told The Times.

This should be disqualifying. This is disqualifying.

But will any of it make a difference? Does Kelly’s warning come too late to stop America’s sleepwalk toward authoritarianism? My honest answer is that I don’t know. I’d like to think there’s a chance.

Democratic polling firm Blueprint found that the best-tested closing argument against Trump is one that emphasizes the opposition of his former Cabinet and fellow Republicans. The needle moved significantly when voters were old: “Nearly half of Donald Trump’s Cabinet has declined to support him.”

So with less than two weeks to go, the Harris campaign just got an effective closing argument. Put it on television. Cover the ether. Break the information silos.

If Americans hear what Kelly, Mattis and Milley say, they might still vote for Trump. But they can’t say they weren’t warned.