How to Run Against a Fascist

A bombshell of sorts from Trump's top advisor helps Harris's theory of the case

Well, it took him long enough.

John Kelly, Trump’s longest-serving Chief of Staff, his Secretary of Homeland Security, and a retired four-star general, has been discreetly signaling his concern about his former boss for years. He is a frequent “anonymous” source for various reporters, authors and historians of the Trump era. As with the famous report in The Atlantic wherein Trump referred to service members who lost their lives as “suckers and losers,” Kelly rarely used his name even when his fingerprints were obvious to all.

That changed on Tuesday. Kelly finally went on the record with the New York Times’ Michael Schmidt. The interview has Kelly confirming that Trump:

• Meets the definition of a fascist;

• Has, on more than one occasion, said “You know, Hitler did some good things, too;” and

• Believes military generals should be loyal to him above all else — including the Constitution.

In a similar interview with Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic, Kelly confirmed a previous report that Trump complained to him “Why can’t you be like the German generals?”

Kelly deserves credit for coming forward when so many others, including former Trump Secretary of Defense Jim Marris, have refused to publicly air their grave concerns about a second Trump term. But before anyone nominates Kelly for the Nobel Peace Prize, he still thinks Trump is a Hitler-fetishizing fascist. Trump is a coin-flip away from the nuclear codes, and an interview with the New York Times is barely table stakes. Hold a press conference, tape an ad, hit the campaign. If Kelly — and his cowardly former Trump Administration colleagues — really believe what they are saying, they owe it to the country to do everything within their power to raise the alarm.

With that cathartic rant off my chest, it’s fair to say Kelly’s revelations are significant. In this campaign, a slight change in the political winds could affect the outcome.