In a recent interview with The Atlantic, former White House chief of staff John Kelly recalled that former President Donald Trump once said he needed “the kind of generals that Hitler had.”
In a separate interview published Tuesday, Kelly recalled that Trump praised Hitler on several occasions, saying the Nazi leader “did some good things, too.”
The Trump campaign denied both allegations, but it’s far from the first time the former has expressed Nazi-esque views – for example, he’s publicly accused immigrants of “poisoning the blood of our country” and repeatedly threatened to jail journalists and political opponents.
Long Beach Congressman Robert Garcia, who’s also the co-chair of the Harris-Walz campaign, told KNX News’ daily political show Countdown 2024 that Trump is a “danger to our democracy.”
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“He leans into extolling authoritarian figures like Kim Jong Un and leaders in China, leaders in Russia, Putin,” Garcia said.
Garcia said he believes the election would be less contentious if there was a traditional Republican running in the race who wasn’t a “direct threat to democracy.”
“This is an era of disinformation and people unfortunately, I think, are getting their news, and there's a lot of lying,” he said. “Donald Trump, whether you like him or not, is the single biggest liar and fabricator in the history of modern American politics.”
But longtime Republican strategist Brian Darling told Countdown 2024 that while Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, and his alleged Hitler praise are “concerning,” they’re not really that big a deal to most Republican voters.
“I think most Republicans have a lot of heartburn about those issues, but they're, it's a weighing of interest,” he said. “It's what do you think, which person is going to do a better job for you? Which person is gonna look out for your interest when they're president? And look, you know, a lot of these things are concerning, but they don't – in the big picture, they don't matter all that much.”
Darling said Trump “did a pretty good job” as president, keeping taxes low and undoing all manner of government regulations.
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Listen to the full episode above to hear more arguments for and against Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and catch new episodes of Countdown 2024 live at 2:30 p.m. every weekday through Election Day.
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