Former President Donald J. Trump, the GOP presidential nominee for 2024, has responded to reports published Tuesday in The Atlantic in which John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, claimed that Trump wanted generals like Hitler and declared that Nazis did “some good things.”
On Truth Social, the GOP nominee slammed John Kelly as a “lowlife,” alleging on Wednesday that he had fabricated the story.
The 45th president disputed Kelly’s allegations, which included the former general declaring that Trump met “the definition of a fascist.” Trump then thanked his supporters for coming to his defense.
“Thank you for your support against a total degenerate named John Kelly, who made up a story out of pure Trump Derangement Syndrome Hatred! This guy had two qualities, which don’t work well together. He was tough and dumb. The problem is his toughness morphed into weakness, because he became JELLO with time!” Trump wrote.
“The story about the Soldiers was A LIE, as are numerous other stories he told. Even though I shouldn’t be wasting my time with him, I always feel it’s necessary to hit back in pursuit of THE TRUTH. John Kelly is a LOWLIFE, and a bad General, whose advice in the White House I no longer sought, and told him to MOVE ON! His wife once told me, at Camp David, John admires you tremendously, and when he leaves the Military, he will only speak well of you. I said, Thank you!”
The timing of Kelly’s allegations has been brought into question as the former Marine general made the claims just two weeks before the election, without substantiating the allegations. Kelly told the New York Times that Trump “commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too.’”
He then told the Atlantic that Trump allegedly raised the idea of needing “German generals.” No other former Trump staffers have substantiated Kelly’s recent claims and many have rebuked them.
It’s no question that the former chief of staff has been critical of Trump, previously accusing him of referring to veterans who were slain in combat as “suckers” and “losers.”
Those assertions were refuted by dozens of former Trump staff members who were present at the time.
The Trump campaign denied Kelly’s new allegations, with campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung writing on Tuesday that Kelly once again “beclowned himself with these debunked stories he has fabricated.”
