United States: John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general and former chief of staff to Ex-President Donald Trump, publicly criticized his former boss on Tuesday, less than two weeks before the election.
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In extensive interviews with The New York Times, Kelly, who previously reserved from discussing his time in the White House openly, came forward to speak about Trump’s discussion of using the military against the “enemy within,” which, according to Trump, includes Democratic opponents.
Kelly added, “And I think this issue of using the military on — to go after — American citizens is one of those things I think is a very, very bad thing — even to say it for political purposes to get elected — I think it’s a very, very bad thing, let alone actually doing it,” ABC News reported.
Trump termed as a “fascist”
The former general held nothing back, stating that Trump could easily be defined as a “fascist.”
He said, “Well, looking at the definition of fascism: It’s a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy,” The Times reported.
“So, certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks would work better in terms of running America,” he continued.
To continue, Kelly further said that Trump had at one point spoken about having generals like those of Adolf Hitler’s army, a statement that left Kelly shocked, and he urged the ex-president not to continue making that sort of comment, ABC News reported.
Chain of senior officials’ remarks on Trump
The remarks from Kelly have continued to be shocking despite the fact that the nation has heard similar comments from many other former senior officials in Trump’s administration.
Earlier, former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump and a ret. Army General Mark Milley remarked to journalist Bob Woodward that Trump is a “fascist to the core.”
Milley added, “He is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is now the most dangerous person in this country.”
Last week, former Secretary of Defence Mark Esper revealed that he believed Trump might employ the military to put down protesters at home and claimed that the then-president probably would face even fewer restraints if he were re-elected.
Esper said, “My sense is that his inclination is to use the military in these situations, whereas my view is that it’s a bad role for the military. It should only be law enforcement taking those actions,” CNN reported.
“I think President Trump has learned that the key is getting people around you who will do your bidding, who will not push back, who will implement what you want to do. And I think he’s talked about that, his acolytes have talked about that, and I think loyalty will be the first litmus test,” he stated.
The former president himself also, over the years, has lauded authoritarians, including praising smart Putin and Xi, called the North Korean leader ”tough” and praised the Hungarian Prime minister Viktor Orban.
Moreover, the spokesperson of Trump’s campaign, Steven Cheung, stated, “John Kelly has totally beclowned himself with these debunked stories he has fabricated because he failed to serve his President well while working as Chief of Staff and currently suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” ABC News reported.
“President Trump has always honored the service and sacrifice of all of our military men and women, whereas Kamala Harris has completely disrespected the families of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, including the Abbey Gate 13,” Cheung added, referencing the thirteen service members killed during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
