Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, says the former president used to praise lots of things about Hitler.
In his new book The Return of Great Powers, which comes out Tuesday, reporter Jim Sciutto interviews several of Trump’s former advisers. All of them stressed that Trump regularly lavished praise on authoritarian leaders around the world, calling Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “fantastic,” Chinese President Xi Jinping “brilliant,” and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un an “OK guy.”
Horrifyingly, Trump also said, “Well, but Hitler did some good things,” according to John Kelly, who served as White House chief of staff from 2017 to 2019.
“I said, ‘Well, what?’ And he said, ‘Well, [Hitler] rebuilt the economy.’ But what did he do with that rebuilt economy? He turned it against his own people and against the world. And I said, ‘Sir, you can never say anything good about the guy. Nothing,’” Kelly told Sciutto. “I mean, Mussolini was a great guy in comparison.”
Kelly said that Trump also praised Hitler for achieving complete loyalty from senior Nazi officials—and Trump expected similar fealty from the retired generals he brought on to his cabinet.
“He would ask about the loyalty issues and about how, when I pointed out to him the German generals as a group were not loyal to him, and in fact tried to assassinate him a few times, and he didn’t know that,” Kelly said. “He truly believed, when he brought us generals in, that we would be loyal—that we would do anything he wanted us to do.”
"Hitler did some good things" would end absolutely anyone else's campaign in America. And this guy still has a chance of winning.
His ex-wife Ivana said in their divorce hearings that he kept Mein Kampf on his bedside table. Very believable, but perhaps he had it just as a token since I'm not convinced he can really read.
I think they meant anything longer than a tweet or a newspaper article about himself. We know how his officials had to dumb down every briefing for him because he never read anything ahead of time and had a hard time in general comprehending basic topics.
Being able to and wanting to, being practised in reading and actually understanding what you read are probably very different things. Some people decided that colorful flash cards work best with him. The news articles about him not reading his briefing materials but looking at the pictures are also out there. I think he reads everything that comes in the size of a flash card or a tweet, much longer than that and I have my doubts.
Kelly said that Trump also praised Hitler for achieving complete loyalty from senior Nazi officials—and Trump expected similar fealty from the retired generals he brought on to his cabinet.
“He would ask about the loyalty issues and about how, when I pointed out to him the German generals as a group were not loyal to him, and in fact tried to assassinate him a few times, and he didn’t know that,” Kelly said. “He truly believed, when he brought us generals in, that we would be loyal—that we would do anything he wanted us to do.”
If John Kelly had any morals he would have immediately held a press conference to tell the nation that Trump was praising Hitler's expectations that all generals have loyal to him before the nation and then immediately resign.
All these Republicans waiting years to expose this instead of when Trump was in power shows they are all complicit.
Ah yes, the "hitler was good for the economy" bullshit. Even if you'd ignore all the atrocities (which you shouldn't), fact is that the outcome was a country in ruins.
And Hitler's economic plan was always based on stealing resources from other countries through war, because else the country's spending was unsustainable.
Yes. In fact it’s a myth that the economy was strong even in the short term.
So I guess Trump wants the government to take over most businesses, have them make panzer tanks and Messerschmitts, and invade a bunch of countries to get slave labor.
Not that anyone would expect Trump to know this, but Hitler rebuilding the economy was kind of a fraud. He basically used fake currency (before it was cool), banned unions and made it nearly impossible to quit a job, and stole from a big chunk of Germany's own population and those surrounding it. Ordinary Germans saw a decline in their real wages by 25% from 1933 to 1938, and obviously things only got worse from there.
That actually is the core Nazi ideology. Honest work building something up by the rules is not cool, means weakness and degeneracy. Fraud and robbery is cool, means strength and cunning. But at the same time putting yourself into something sacrificial is cool too. "We do not sow" and all that.
So it was fraud, but I think most of the Germans loyal to that ideology understood that emotionally.
Many people in the Middle East and Africa have such worldview today.
Additionally many undesirable people were forced out of high skill jobs or had their business taken away. Robbing businesses of effective managers and workers. Leading to loss of productivity and a fall in GDP.
Both Nazi Germany and post war divided Germany made for very interesting natural experiments in economics. Weirdly because it would be unethical to do them as a controlled studying....
Trump striving to be like notoriously vicious dictators is part of what makes him so appealing to conservative voters.
If history is our guide, your conservative coworkers, neighbors and family members will politely watch as you are escorted onto a bus headed for re-education camp. They won't be overt or cartoonish in their evil. They will just be themselves.
Whenever I drink an orange Fanta I do occasionally think “I guess this probably wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Coca-Cola trying to make a buck from the Nazis.” I’d gladly drink Orange Crush instead if it meant I could travel back in time to take out Hitler.
I’ve never even seen that guy with a 5 o’clock shadow or razor burn. It’s really weird.
He occasionally comes makes a rare appearance without the bronzer or without his hairspray, but never even a hint that he’s capable of growing facial hair.
Surely Jordan Klepper or someone like him have read quotes by Trump and attributed them to Biden, Hillary, etc only to witness the hypocritical reactions
Baby Boomers can’t die off fast enough; it seems very reductive to blame this entire situation on them, but in simplest terms they are still the largest voting bloc and they are the last generation to swing more conservative as they aged.
Millennials and Zoomers aren’t off the hook, though. We need to not let apathy take over; every election is important, because there are those who are looking to take away your rights at every opportunity they get - and we can’t let them win, ever. For the sake of all of our futures - vote like your life depends on it, because it actually might.
I could build a good economy too, if I redistributed wealth while saddling an entire ethnic/religious demographic with debt, forcing them in to slavery and excluding them from economic statistics. Oh, and make meth legal for the workforce.
The thingy is, it wasn't that good of an economy outside of the war industry. People paid for car IOUs that would build tanks, but they never got the cars. Compared to east Germany that eventually got the cars.
I think about this a lot. If Hitler offered me 10 million dollars I'd take it, but that doesn't mean I have to like him. I'm OK with admitting people I don't like sometimes did good things, even if by accident. I think this is logically consistent because there are a lot of people I think are really good that occasionally do bad things.
Sure, even the most evil people don't kick puppies ALL day. Note: I am not a Hitler supporter, just pointing out that TOTAL evil doesn't exist:
Hitler's early reforms in Germany helped reduce unemployment significantly. Between 1933-1936, he introduced a series of measures aimed at generating jobs and revitalizing the economy through the Four Year Plan. By the time World War II began, the rate had dropped from over 30% to around 7%.
Hitler initiated major infrastructure improvements throughout Germany, including building new roads, highways, bridges, airports, harbors, and canals. This helped modernize the country and facilitated trade and travel.
Under Hitler’s rule, Germany made significant progress in areas such as education and healthcare. There was a sharp increase in the number of school children and students enrolling in universities, as well as investments in scientific research.
Women's rights were expanded during this period. Hitler allowed married women to continue working outside the home and gave them the right to equal pay for equal work. He also promoted women's participation in the labor market by providing subsidies for childcare services.
Hitler's government launched a massive rearmament program, which led to rapid advances in German military technology. These advancements played a crucial role in the early successes of the Wehrmacht during WWII.
The Nazi Party under Hitler invested heavily in improving housing conditions and construction projects for average citizens, notably through programs like the "Strength Through Joy" initiative, which provided low-cost vacations for workers.
German culture flourished during the Third Reich. Hitler understood the importance of art, music, theater, and literature in maintaining national pride and identity. He funded numerous arts projects and encouraged artists to produce works that reflected his vision for a strong, unified Germany.
I can also create lists of really bad and evil things that he did, so he's not exactly my favorite person.