Kelly Describes Trump as a “Fascist”
From an NYT interview.
From the NYT: As Election Nears, Kelly Warns Trump Would Rule Like a Dictator.
Kelly said that based on his experience, Trump met the definition of a “fascist.”
In response to a question about whether he thought Mr. Trump was a fascist, Mr. Kelly first read aloud a definition of fascism that he had found online.
“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.
Mr. Kelly said that definition accurately described Mr. Trump.
“So certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks would work better in terms of running America,” Mr. Kelly said.
He added: “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.”
Also:
Kelly said Trump chafed at limitations on his power.
“He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government,” Mr. Kelly said.
Mr. Trump “never accepted the fact that he wasn’t the most powerful man in the world — and by power, I mean an ability to do anything he wanted, anytime he wanted,” Mr. Kelly said.
“I think he’d love to be just like he was in business — he could tell people to do things and they would do it, and not really bother too much about whether what the legalities were and whatnot,” he said.
And
Trump told him that “Hitler did some good things.”
Mr. Kelly confirmed previous reports that on more than one occasion Mr. Trump spoke positively of Hitler.
“He commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too,’” Mr. Kelly said Mr. Trump told him.
Mr. Kelly said that Mr. Trump had little appreciation for history — “I think he’s lacking in that,” he said — but said that he would still try to explain to Mr. Trump why those comments about Hitler were problematic.
“First of all, you should never say that,” Mr. Kelly said that he told Mr. Trump. “But if you knew what Hitler was all about from the beginning to the end, everything he did was in support of his racist, fascist life, you know, the, you know, philosophy, so that nothing he did, you could argue, was good — it was certainly not done for the right reason.”
Mr. Kelly said that would usually end the conversation. But Mr. Trump would occasionally bring it up again.
I recommend the whole piece, there is audio clips if that helps solidify the statements.
All of this comports with, and reinforces, what I have been writing about for the last several days.
So, we have seen historians issues warnings about Trump and fascism, as have political scientists such as myself. We have people who served alongside Trump warning us as well.
I hope enough people pay heed.
PS: a note to the NYT: how is this story not more prominently displayed on your home page? I think it is more noteworthy that “5 Healthy Whole Grains and How to Cook Them” for example.
I don’t know. The NYT may yet be able to influence more people to cook with buckwheat.
No amount of coverage in the nation’s Newspaper of Record is going to give GOP elected officials the courage to speak out against Trump & Trumpism.
I know this isn’t a nuanced answer, but after the last 9 years of political coverage I think the answer is “because they are a shitty paper with shitty values that happens to employ some good journalists.”
@Neil Hudelson:
I read somewhere that NYT is very mindful of Food and Fashion getting more clicks than the news.
I have a good friend who is very pro-Harris and anti-Trump and reads the NYT every day. She doesn’t see much of a problem with it. She says they have endorsed Harris, and it seems fine.
I have the feeling that perhaps some think it would change minds if a story like this was front-page instead of page 5 or whatever. Yet, I’m not really sure about that.
As Steven has been saying for years, deciding to switch the party you vote for is not something done lightly. We see people doing it, but they are the exception, not the rule. Harris is working hard at it, but we have to realize, even a couple of percentage points are going to make a big difference, and that’s likely what they are aiming for.
I think there are a lot of folks out there in denial of all this stuff about Trump. They have their fingers in their ears, saying, “LALALA IM NOT LISTENING!!!” because Trump serves their needs, and makes them feel safe in some way.
I on the other hand, am sure it wouldn’t, for the exact reason ascribed to Dr. Taylor further along. (I also assume that he has reasons for continuing to pursue this line of enquiry beyond preaching to the choir but am not inclined to ask.)
@just nutha:
Partially, it is simply because it is on my mind, and I tend to blog that which is on my mind. It at least gets it out of head (to some degree).
I have been sharing some of this on FB in the vain hope some of my GOP-voting friends and family will at least pause and think.
I hate to did this, but in fairness to NYT, further down the homepage is an excellent Editorial Board column which is just quotes condemning Trump from nearly a hundred ex associates. WAPO this morning carries a good story about this Kelly interview, noting Kelly’s view of Trump’s fascism and also Trump’s disdain for the troops. But they linked to it from a small type, milquetoast, line on the homepage about ignorance of the Constitution, avoiding the F word. I also noted a comment on another thread here this morning mentioning that the MSM didn’t go down the Hunter’s Laptop rabbit hole like they did HER EMAILZ!!!. AFAIK none of them have fessed up to what they did in 2016, but they do seem a little better about breathlessly following RWNJ sites down rabbit holes.
That said, the Times still does, all too often, the FTFNYT bit. They’ve sanewashed a lot of Trump, and never missed a chance to say Biden is 81. Right now they’re running an utterly absurd Bret Stephens column just for the clicks from people who hate Stephens. Clicks is clicks.
Hey America, how about we don’t vote for the guy who wants to be president so he can be powerful and do whatever he wants, whenever he wants.
He comes off as a spoiled 8-year old brat who hates to be told “no”. Same emotional and intellectual capacity, too.
@just nutha:
In support of Doctor Taylor’s view on party switching, my usual line is that I’m a Democrat because my parents were Democrats. My parents were Democrats because during the Depression Republican bankers tried to take their farms and Democratic politicians helped the farmers. Nearly a hundred years have gone by, but the situation hasn’t changed.
I agree that no more than a few votes will be changed by Dem outreach to Rs, but a few at the margin will. More importantly, like Harris’ promise to have some sort of bi-partisan advisory group, it feeds the narrative that we don’t hate Republicans, just Trump and Vance. (Whether she believes any of this is bi-partisanship is a story for another day, after the election.) But mostly it may suppress a little GOP turnout and preaching to the choir may improve D turnout. And a lot of people are quoted saying they’ll make up their minds in the voting booth. Maybe a few more of those coin flips will go our way.
Plus, Dems can afford it. One of the few long term positive signs I see is that liberal billionaires and small donors can out raise Koch, the DeVos/Princes, the Mercers, Miriam Adelson, the Uihleins, Musk, etc.
Like Economics, politics happens at the margin, and a very few votes will determine this oh so marginal election.
Unlikeable, unpopular creep JD Vance once accurately described Trump as “America’s Hitler.” So maybe Senile Don is prepping to switch out Vance with John Kelly?
@Steven L. Taylor: Ah, my experience is 180° out of phase. I’ve always been the one my family hoped would pause and think–about how God will punish the country if Clinton/Gore/Kerry gets elected.
Now, I don’t care what either God or We teh peepul do to the country. I’m Burger King–have it whatever way you want (ETA:) or can get teh peepul to agree to. It’d be nicer if Harris got elected, but not enough to make positive progress on unhousedness in major cities or raising taxes to cover fixed costs or stuff like that. ETA: The crap is baked in until my generation dies off, at a minimum. Too much to fix.
@DK:
I don’t think Kelly would be caught dead in the same room as Trump.
El Felon has gone full Weirdo on Kelly. I wonder if he can be sued for libel.
@Kathy:
Trump called Kelly “a total degenerate.”