Donald Trump’s allies are trying to downplay the former president’s reported praise for Nazi dictator Adolf Hiter and discredit John Kelly after the former White House chief of staff went public with multiple outlets about his concerns about Trump’s fascist ambitions Trump.

This week the retired general said The New York Times that Trump met the definition of a fascist, and if re-elected would rule as a dictator. In a separate interview with The Atlantic Ocean, Kelly expanded on previous claims that Trump expressed admiration for Hitler. Two additional sources said The Atlantic Ocean that the former president once said he wanted “the kind of generals Hitler had,” as in “people who were completely loyal to him, who followed orders.”

The bombshell reporting has revived discussions about Trump’s authoritarian impulses as the election approaches. On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala publicly branded her opponent as a man who is “increasingly unhinged” and wants an army that will be “loyal to him personally, an army that will obey his orders even when he tells them to follow the law.” violate. ”

“We know what Donald Trump wants. He wants unchecked power. The question in thirteen days will be: what do the American people want? Harris said.

Predictably, Trump loyalists have gone to work making excuses, from trying to discredit Kelly to claiming that the former president’s authoritarian rhetoric isn’t a problem.

Trump may not have known that Hitler’s generals were Nazis

On Wednesday, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade responded to Kelly’s comments by claiming that Trump may not have been aware that Hitler’s generals were Nazis and just wanted to cut through red tape.

“(Former Defense Secretary Jim) Mattis and Kelly hated the president,” Kilmeade said, citing the memoir of H.R. McMaster, another former Trump administration official who has warned of Trump’s connections to authoritarianism leaders. “I can definitely see (Trump) saying, ‘It would be great to have German generals who actually do what we ask of them, while they may not be fully aware of the third rail of German generals who were Nazis or whatever as well,” Kilmeade said. said. “But he was frustrated by the delay of commands that were not executed.”

Trump’s admiration for Hitler is “ingrained” into why people support him

New Hampshire’s Republican governor, Chris Sununu, claimed Trump’s admiration was “the most natural thing in the world” for the former president.

“Look, we’ve heard a lot of extreme things about Donald Trump from Donald Trump. It’s part of the course. It’s really unfortunately, with a guy like that, it’s kind of baked into the mood right now,” Sununu told CNN on Wednesday.

The Atlantic Ocean said Trump is “literally Hitler” (they didn’t)

Right-wing billionaire Elon Musk – who has campaigned (in potentially illegal ways) for Trump in key swing states – shared a screenshot of a fake headline that That of the Atlantic Ocean report from Kelly. “They are literally foaming at the mouth,” Musk wrote, quoting a post from another X-user with a doctored image with the headline “Trump is literally Hitler.”

On Wednesday, The Atlantic Ocean issued a press release titled “The Atlantic did not publish an article with the headline ‘Trump is literally Hitler.’”

“The fake headline twists one Atlantic Ocean article published on October 22, 2024, headlined “Trump: ‘I need the kind of generals Hitler had,’” the publication wrote. “Anyone who comes across these images can quickly verify by passing by whether something is real –– or not–– The Atlantic Ocean and search our site.”

The stories were planted by the Harris campaign

Fox News’ supposedly objective “news side” anchor Bret Baier suggested Wednesday that Vice President Harris would be planted That of the Atlantic Ocean story as part of her closing message against Trump.

“It appears Vice President Harris is closing with the former president’s threat against America,” Baier said. ‘You saw that Atlantic Ocean piece referencing former Chief of Staff John Kelly talking about how the president spoke about Hitler. All of these things will come together to form this closing argument that she is giving with former Congresswoman Liz Cheney.

It’s a “hoax”

Jesse Watters, Fox News’ top primetime anchor, introduced his coverage of the story with a modified segment intro that read, “New Hoax Alert!” with his audience.

“The Las Vegas Hoax Chief, Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic Oceanhas come up with a doozy, says Trump admired Hitler. There are no recordings of this and everyone says it’s bullshit, but the VP who swallows hoaxes to go with her word salads ran for the cameras,” Watters said.

Watters further alleged that Kelly’s statements were used as fodder by Democrats to encourage another assassination attempt on Trump. “Within 24 hours, the highest levels of the Democratic establishment have called Trump a Nazi who should be locked up and have his throat slit. If Donald Trump wins, how can we achieve a peaceful transition? The left says Trump is a dictator who will turn the military against them. Are they just going to hand him the keys to the White House and pretend he’s Mitt Romney? They’re not just smearing Trump, they’re saying half the country is Hitler,” he added.

Students are the real Hitlers

CNN’s token Republican Scott Jennings said during a panel discussion Wednesday that while he believed Kelly was an “honorable” man, the real fascists in America are college students protesting the mass killings of Palestinians in Gaza.

If Kelly “is worried about Hitler — and he’s worried about fascism — he should pick up the paper,” Jennings said. “There are thousands of Hitlers running around this country right now, running around college campuses, running around New York City, chasing Jewish people around and blocking their access to college campuses.”

“If you’re worried about Hitler and you’re talking about Donald Trump, maybe open your eyes and look at what’s happening on the American left in this country. Those are the Hitlers I worry about,” he added.

Kelly didn’t provide enough context

Trump’s closest ally at Fox News, Sean Hannity, spoke with disgraced former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly on Wednesday, where the pair attempted to downplay Kelly’s claims.

O’Reilly suggested to listeners that the report was unreliable because “Kelly hates Donald Trump. Everyone knows that. Kelly will admit it. He hates him. He doesn’t want him to win.”

Hannity interjected that the reporting wasn’t “new” and that Kelly “has said this before.”

O’Reilly further complained that “there is no context to the conversation,” as reported by The Atlantic Ocean: “No one knows what the context is. Was it a discussion about the effectiveness of the Wehrmacht during World War II? Was that the discussion? What was the discussion? Nobody knows.”

“Number two, who witnessed this besides Kelly? Nobody. Okay. So you’re in a territory where the haters, the Trump haters, are taking everything they can get and throwing it away as fact,” O’Reilly added.

Kelly should have said something sooner

Failed Republican presidential candidate Doug Burgum told CNN on Thursday that if Kelly had a problem with Trump — and believed he was a fascist — he “could have said so when he worked for him five years ago.”

“He could have said it when he left the White House, but he’s waiting until 12 days before an election takes place,” Burgum added.