Several advisers to former President Donald Trump say in an upcoming book the former president and 2024 hopeful regularly praised various despots and autocrats— including saying Adolf Hitler “did some good things,” which he’s been accused of in the past— according to a CNN report.
Several former advisers recalled conversations with Trump about various authoritarian leaders.
The former advisers—including former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, former National Security Adviser John Bolton and former Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger—recalled the conversations to CNN’s Jim Sciutto in his book “The Return of Great Powers,” which is released Tuesday.
Kelly told Sciutto that Trump allegedly said Hitler “did some good things,” that he “rebuilt the economy” and maintained a strong influence over senior Nazi officials.
Kelly also said Trump was “shocked that he didn’t have dictatorial-type powers” in regards to his ability to move money or U.S. military forces.
Bolton told Sciutto he believes the nation’s role in NATO “would be in real jeopardy,” because Trump—who most recently criticized the contributions of European members on Truth Social—would want to pull the U.S. out of the organization.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, did not immediately respond to Forbes’ requests for comment but dismissed the comments from Kelly and Bolton, saying they suffer from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
“My theory on why he likes the dictators so much is that’s who he is,” Kelly told Sciutto.
Kelly’s accusations about Trump’s alleged praise of Hitler has come up before, and has been denied by a Trump spokesperson. The former president has most recently been criticized for using rhetoric similar to the Nazi dictator when talking about political foes—calling political extremist groups “vermin'' in November and saying immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the nation in December. His campaign also came under fire in August for comparing his indictment to 1930s Nazi Germany. According to the 2022 novel “The Divider: Trump in the White House” by New York Times journalist Peter Baker and New Yorker journalist Susan Glasser, the former president also allegedly asked U.S. generals to act more like Nazi generals during his presidency.
Ivana Trump, the former president’s first wife, reportedly told her lawyer that Trump would read Hitler’s speeches—allegedly keeping “My New Order,” a book of compiled speeches—in a bedside cabinet, according to a 1990 Vanity Fair article.
Trump praised the autocratic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán while hosting him at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, CNN reported.“There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán. He’s fantastic,” Trump reportedly told a crowd.
Former advisers sound the alarm that Trump praises despots in private and on the campaign trail (CNN)
Trump Compares Political Foes To ‘Vermin’ On Veterans Day—Echoing Nazi Propaganda (Forbes)
Trump allegedly praised Hitler as doing ‘a lot of good things,’ new book claims (CNN)