NORFOLK, Va. — Democrats are seizing on comments made by John Kelly, Donald Trump's former chief of staff in the White House. In an article in the New York Times, Kelly, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, recalls Trump asking why his generals were not like Adolf Hitler's.
He said the former president admires dictators and is a fascist. "Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators-he has said that," Kelly said in a taped conversation with the Times.
The latest revelations do not go ignored by Virginia Army veteran and West Point grad Terron Sims, who is also the DNC Chair of the Veterans and Military Families Caucus. He isn't surprised: "It's not the first time I heard him say something similar."
He thinks a second Trump presidential term would be dangerous. "I think it would be extremely detrimental to the future state of our society as well as, however you define the world order."
He's not alone. At least 11 former Trump White House officials, including former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have indicated they believe that Trump is a danger to the country.
In the Times, Kelly also confirmed previous statements in which he says Trump expressed contempt for disabled vets and called the war dead suckers and losers.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign is pushing back calling Kelly's comments an "outrageous lie" and said Trump "has always honored the service and sacrifice of all our military men and women."
In a statement to 13News Now, Virginia's GOP chair Rich Anderson said in part: “Again, President Trump’s adversaries are using shameless fearmongering and hearsay to distract from the vital issues in this race. Unfortunately, President Trump’s former chief of staff emerged from obscurity just two weeks before a critical national election to put voice to falsehoods directly disputed by eyewitness accounts, a political maneuver that is inconsistent with the long-standing role of retired generals and admirals in our Constitutional Republic."
In response to the Times report, Harris said Wednesday: "Donald Trump's former Chief of Staff John Kelly, a retired four-star General, confirmed that while Donald Trump was president he said he wanted 'generals like Adolf Hitler had.' Donald Trump said that because he does not want a military that is loyal to the United States Constitution, he wants a military that is loyal to him... In just the past week Donald Trump has repeatedly called his fellow Americans 'the enemy from within' and even said that he would use the United States military to go after American citizens."
