Trump's former chief of staff at the White House, John Kelly, said in an interview published on Wednesday that Trump's fondness for authoritarian rulers is clear.
On more than one occasion, Trump is said to have spoken in positive terms about Hitler, according to Kelly. Hitler "also did good things", Trump claimed.
In the eyes of the former chief of staff, the Republican presidential candidate meets the definition of a fascist, he says in an interview with The New York Times.
He is definitely authoritarian, admires dictators – he has said so.
"Extremely dangerous"
Kelly's reflection prompted the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris to react outside her residence in Washington DC.
This is deeply problematic and extremely dangerous that Donald Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler, the man responsible for the deaths of six million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Americans, said Harris before departing for a TV-broadcast debate in the state of Pennsylvania.
Trump's communications chief during the election campaign responded that Harris is a "bad loser".
"She is getting increasingly desperate as she stands and loses" in the election campaign, wrote communications officer Steven Cheung in a statement.
But John Kelly's comment about Trump carries extra weight since Kelly was not only chief of staff, he has a background as a decorated commander in the US Navy. Before Kelly led the work at the White House in 2017-2019, he was Minister for Homeland Security, appointed by Trump.
With just over two weeks left until the election, Kelly says he is becoming increasingly worried. He is particularly concerned about Trump's statements about deploying the military against "domestic enemies". According to Kelly, the presidential candidate lacks understanding of the Constitution and the rule of law.
We talked about it – it was a new concept for him. He definitely prefers the dictator method, says Kelly.
"Unhinged and unstable"
Trump's opponent Harris is sharpening her tone:
Donald Trump is becoming increasingly unhinged and unstable. In a second term, there won't be people like John Kelly who are there to stop him from his impulses.
The former chief of staff also said in the interview that Trump could not tolerate that officials and former commanders put the Constitution before loyalty to the president.
To the magazine The Atlantic, Kelly states that Trump asked why he is not like "the German generals".
I need the kind of commanders that Hitler had, Trump is said to have said.
