John Kelly is warning us that JD Vance was right: Trump is “America’s Hitler.”

Trump wants Hitler-esque loyalty

In 2016, JD Vance not only called Donald Trump “reprehensible,” but raised alarm bells that Trump could be “America’s Hitler.” Vance was right on both counts—as Trump’s former chief of staff and retired four star United States Marine Corp General John Kelly made clear in two jaw-dropping interviews published this week.

Kelly raised two bright red flags that paint a dark and deeply disturbing picture for our nation if Trump were to return to office. First, there was Kelly’s comments to The Atlantic that Trump made it clear that, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.”  

Kelly had in the past explained to Trump that in reality German generals “tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off.” But “this correction did not move Trump to reconsider his view: “No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him, the president responded.” Kelly confirmed that past conversation with Trump to The Atlantic in this new article.

The Atlantic continued with this concerning passage, “Trump has responded incredulously when told that American military personnel swear an oath to the Constitution, not to the president.” That was backed up Kelly who told the NY Times in an article published Tuesday about Trump, “That was a big surprise to him that the generals were not loyal to the boss, in this case him.”

While Trump may not be well read in history, he instinctively understood that Hitler--after he became the chancellor of Germany in 1933--required the military swear an oath to him personally. As the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s online encyclopedia explains, “The oath was no longer one of allegiance to the Constitution or its institutions, but one of binding loyalty to Hitler himself.” That oath--quoted below--demanded unconditional loyalty to Hitler:

“I swear by God this holy oath, that I will render to Adolf Hitler, Führer of the German Reich and People, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, unconditional obedience, and that I am ready, as a brave soldier, to risk my life at any time for this oath.”

The Holocaust Encyclopedia notes this “oath represented the beginning of a process of politicization, or Nazification, of the German military.” The result was, “The distinction between loyalty to the state and loyalty to Hitler—and the Nazi Party—swiftly eroded.”  That meant if you defied an order of Hitler, you were a traitor to the nation: “Refusal now represented a high crime against not only Germany, but also the Führer himself.”

By 1935, the loyalty oath to Hitler was also mandated for civilian officials working in the German government. That meant like the military, the entire government workforce had to be loyal to Hitler above the constitution of Germany.

That’s exactly what Trump has always sought and would demand if he won this election.  As a reminder, Project 2025 contemplates a federal workforce loyal to Trump. Thus, if Trump wins, he and his allies would usher in the Trumpification of every aspect of our institutions by demanding absolute loyalty from military leaders to those working in the federal government. We know from Nazi history what that type of blind loyalty led to from carrying out a “blood purge” where German citizens viewed as Hitler’s political critics/rivals were arrested and murdered to the evils of The Holocaust.

But Kelly was not done warning America. He told the NY Times something we all know but needs to be said by someone like Kelly: Trump not only rejects our Constitution and American values—but has embraced fascism.

Kelly first put it this way about Trump, “He’s certainly the only president that has all but rejected what America is all about, and what makes America, America, in terms of our Constitution, in terms of our values, the way we look at everything, to include family and government.” Adding, “He’s certainly the only president that I know of, certainly in my lifetime, that was like that.”

Then Kelly went further. Kelly noted that 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.”

As Kelly explained, “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,” he said. Adding, “So certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks would work better in terms of running America.” (This echoes the recent comments of Retired Gen. Mark A. Milley who warned that Trump is a “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person to this country.”)

What appeared to prompt Kelly to come forward now to the NY Times was Trump’s recent comments calling political opponents/critics the “enemy within” and vowing to use the military to handle them if elected. (On Tuesday, at an event in Florida, the pro-Trump crowd alarmingly cheered when Trump again called Democratic opponents the “enemy within.”)

Kelly explained, “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.” Kelly added that 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 legal limits on his authority to do so. As a concerned Kelly told the NY Times, “But now that he’s talking about it as ‘I’m gonna do it’ is, again, it’s disturbing.”

John Kelly enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp in 1970 to serve in the Vietnam War despite having bone spurs in his feet. After serving in combat, he attended Officer Candidate School and became an officer. Kelly rose through the ranks serving with honor and distinction to achieve the level of a four star general and command of United States Southern Command until he retired in 2016—after 45 years of service.

Yet Kelly’s service to our nation continues to this day with his warning that Trump is a threat to the nation and Constitution that he loves so dearly.  Kelly knows if Trump wins, it’s possible that Trump will have Kelly arrested--if not worse. But he refuses to be silent. John Kelly is what a true American patriot looks like. Trump is what America’s Hitler looks like.

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