Donald Trump went through four chiefs of staff during his presidency—he started with former RNC Chair Reince Priebus, then moved on to retired Marine General John F. Kelly, then former Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Mick Mulvaney, and finally to former North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows. 

Little known fact: the official role was first created during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower.

But one of those chiefs has been spouting off as of late, making huge headlines in the liberal press and causing Democrats to froth at the mouth over their latest “Trump is a Nazi” rhetoric. I speak, of course, of John F. Kelly, who, although he served the president from 2017 to 2019, now claims that Trump “certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”

Don’t turn your back on this guy, especially if there’s a knife around:

Donald Trump is not dangerous. What's dangerous are historically illiterate generals.

Q: "Do you think Trump is a fascist?"

John Kelly: "Well, I'm looking at the definition of fascism. It’s a far-right movement with a dictatorial leader and forcible suppression of opposition…… pic.twitter.com/RNDxqI63GO

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) October 23, 2024

"It’s a far-right movement with a dictatorial leader and forcible suppression of opposition… So certainly in my experience, he falls into the definition of a fascist"

It all sounds good if you’re a Never Trumper, but there’s just one little problem. Another chief of staff, who worked in close collaboration with the former president, says it’s a whole bunch of malarkey.

"If I thought the man was a fascist, I would have quit."

After John Kelly's claim that Donald Trump 'wanted generals like Hitler's', former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney tells @AndrewMarr9 he never heard the former President say 'anything like that'. pic.twitter.com/mKjqVqXtuX

— LBC (@LBC) October 29, 2024

I was Trump’s chief of staff — ex-aide’s Hitler claims are deranged

That's the title for Mick Mulvaney’s Tuesday op-ed in the New York Post. That about says it all—but he has more.

The whole portrayal is total BS, Mulvaney contends:

Kelly saw the job as that of a self-appointed overseer, charged with protecting the country against a president that those same people had elected.

I saw the role as the chief of the staff.

Kelly saw it as the chief of the president.

There are, of course, limits to what the job entails.

Faithful service never implies doing things that are illegal or immoral or in violation of our oaths to the Constitution.

But Kelly hasn’t expressed that Trump asked him to do anything like that.

His objections appear to relate to Trump’s alleged tendencies and inclinations.

Kelly’s central aim now appears to be establishing a tie between Trump and Hitler, using the former president’s alleged own words to do so.

Curiously, absolutely no one else seems to recall comments similar to what Kelly has alleged.

And the Hitler stuff? Yeah, no:

Donald Trump certainly never spoke favorably about Adolf Hitler to me, which seems consistent with the fact that his daughter and grandchildren are Jewish.

He also adds the kicker that the retired general’s “recent behavior is simply consistent with what many of us saw in the White House during Kelly’s tenure.” That’s a nice way of saying he was always out for himself and was never a team player. Nor was he looking after America's best interests.

This whole “Trump is a Nazi” narrative has been yet another disgusting effort by the media and the left to sow division and incite hate. Since John Kelly is a Marine, I will not say what I really think of his antics out of respect, but let’s just say that his behavior and his rhetoric are inflammatory and have done nothing to bring this country together. They also don’t comport with the reality that others who served with Trump like Mulvaney are reporting or what we see on a daily basis from the GOP nominee himself.

In fact, as Mulvaney eloquently points out, if Trump admired Hitler, a true patriot would have objected or resigned:

He never gave me any reason to believe, as Kelly contends, that he was a fascist.

If he had done any of those things, I would have responded in the only acceptable manner: by trying my level best to convince him to do, or be, otherwise.

Failing that, I would have resigned my post.

Kelly, if he heard such disturbing comments, should have done the same.

But he didn’t.

Boom. 

Mulvaney just blew this trash narrative out of the water. Kelly, it would appear, is just another self-serving, bitter narcissist who didn’t get what he wanted, so he has taken his ball and gone home in a snit.

I take no joy in calling out my predecessor. But the whole "savior complex" thing has just gone too far. https://t.co/iXRy40lXI3

— Mick Mulvaney (@MickMulvaney) October 29, 2024