John Kelly worked side by side with Donald Trump for two years. He’s now warning Americans the Republican candidate meets the definition of a “fascist.”
It’s not always obvious what constitutes an “October Surprise,” but it seems to me this counts:
Two four-star generals, handpicked by Trump for top positions on his team, are condemning him as a fascist and pleading with voters to see him as a threat.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-former-chief-staff-meets-definition-fascist-rcna176748
It’s not always obvious what constitutes an “October Surprise.” The concept is rooted in the idea that there are sometimes unexpected developments that jolt the public conversation in the runup to Election Day, which in turn affect the results.
All things considered, having a former White House chief of staff — who also happens to be a retired four-star general and decorated veteran — declare two weeks before the election that
his former boss meets the definition of a “fascist” should probably meet the standard for an “October Surprise.” NBC News reported:
John Kelly, who was White House chief of staff during the Trump administration, said in a series of recent interviews that former President Donald Trump meets the definition of a fascist. The remark, published Tuesday, was made in one of Kelly’s interviews with The New York Times. Audio of his comments was made available online.
“Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure,” Kelly told the newspaper on the record.
.....As we’ve discussed, the retired general also spoke on the record with The Atlantic’s Jeff Goldberg, explaining that Trump also offered private praise for “Hitler’s generals.” (A Trump spokesperson denied the accuracy of the reporting. Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for the GOP campaign, also told NBC News that Kelly “totally beclowned himself” by recounting “debunked stories” about the administration.)
It was against this backdrop that Kelly also told the Times, in reference to Trump, “H
e commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too.’”
To go ahead and state the obvious, modern American political leaders don’t think or speak this way. But just as notable is the unprecedented circumstances
: The Republican Party has nominated an erratic criminal, running on an authoritarian platform, for the nation’s highest office, and prominent former members of that candidate’s team keep issuing dire warnings about how dangerous he would be if returned to power.
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