Former Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly Warns Trump Would Rule Like a Dictator
Michael S. Schmidt for The New York Times:
He said that, in his opinion, Mr. Trump met the definition of a
fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no
understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of
law. […]
When Mr. Kelly left the White House in 2019, he decided he would
speak out on the record only if Mr. Trump said something that he
found deeply troubling or involved him and was wildly inaccurate.
Mr. Trump’s recent comments about using the military against what
he called the “enemy within” were so dangerous, he said, that he
felt he had to speak out.
“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,” Mr. Kelly said.
Mr. Kelly said that Mr. Trump was repeatedly told dating back to
his first year in office why he should not use the U.S. military
against Americans and the limits on his authority to do so. Mr.
Trump nevertheless continued while in office to push the issue and
claim that he did have the authority to take such actions, Mr.
Kelly said.
Regarding Trump’s praise for Adolf Hitler:
“He commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good
things, too,’” Mr. Kelly said Mr. Trump told him. […]
“First of all, you should never say that,” Mr. Kelly said that he
told Mr. Trump. “But if you knew what Hitler was all about from
the beginning to the end, everything he did was in support of his
racist, fascist life, you know, the, you know, philosophy, so that
nothing he did, you could argue, was good — it was certainly not
done for the right reason.”
Mr. Kelly said that would usually end the conversation. But Mr.
Trump would occasionally bring it up again.
In his first term Trump had guardrails. He hadn’t expected to actually win in 2016 and while his administration was staffed with hard-right Republicans, they were men who respected the Constitution and rule of law. There is much to criticize about Trump’s attorneys general, Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr. But both were exactly the sort of people you’d expect as attorney general under any Republican president. In fact, Barr had previously served as attorney general, under George H.W. Bush from 1991–1993 — not exactly a time of tumult or growing fascism in the United States. For attorney general in a possible second administration, ABC News is reporting that Trump is considering Aileen Cannon, the apparatchik Florida judge — utterly unqualified for the federal bench but nominated by Trump in 2020 — who threw out Trump’s stolen classified documents case this summer. To call her decision unfounded in law and seemingly based on fealty to Trump personally is putting it mildly.
★
Michael S. Schmidt for The New York Times:
He said that, in his opinion, Mr. Trump met the definition of a
fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no
understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of
law. […]
When Mr. Kelly left the White House in 2019, he decided he would
speak out on the record only if Mr. Trump said something that he
found deeply troubling or involved him and was wildly inaccurate.
Mr. Trump’s recent comments about using the military against what
he called the “enemy within” were so dangerous, he said, that he
felt he had to speak out.
“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,” Mr. Kelly said.
Mr. Kelly said that Mr. Trump was repeatedly told dating back to
his first year in office why he should not use the U.S. military
against Americans and the limits on his authority to do so. Mr.
Trump nevertheless continued while in office to push the issue and
claim that he did have the authority to take such actions, Mr.
Kelly said.
Regarding Trump’s praise for Adolf Hitler:
“He commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good
things, too,’” Mr. Kelly said Mr. Trump told him. […]
“First of all, you should never say that,” Mr. Kelly said that he
told Mr. Trump. “But if you knew what Hitler was all about from
the beginning to the end, everything he did was in support of his
racist, fascist life, you know, the, you know, philosophy, so that
nothing he did, you could argue, was good — it was certainly not
done for the right reason.”
Mr. Kelly said that would usually end the conversation. But Mr.
Trump would occasionally bring it up again.
In his first term Trump had guardrails. He hadn’t expected to actually win in 2016 and while his administration was staffed with hard-right Republicans, they were men who respected the Constitution and rule of law. There is much to criticize about Trump’s attorneys general, Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr. But both were exactly the sort of people you’d expect as attorney general under any Republican president. In fact, Barr had previously served as attorney general, under George H.W. Bush from 1991–1993 — not exactly a time of tumult or growing fascism in the United States. For attorney general in a possible second administration, ABC News is reporting that Trump is considering Aileen Cannon, the apparatchik Florida judge — utterly unqualified for the federal bench but nominated by Trump in 2020 — who threw out Trump’s stolen classified documents case this summer. To call her decision unfounded in law and seemingly based on fealty to Trump personally is putting it mildly.