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| EFE |
The author confirmed to the media that retired General John Kelly leaked those comments to him. Kelly was Trump's chief of staff between July 2017 and January 2019.
"He said, 'But Hitler did some good things.' I said, 'What?' And he said, 'Well, he rebuilt the economy.' But what did he do with that rebuilt economy? He turned it against his own people and against the world. And I told him, 'Sir, you can never say anything good about that guy.' Nothing," Kelly recounted.
The president's admiration is not limited to Hitler. According to his right-hand man, Trump praised the loyalty of his officers towards him.
Of Orbán, with whom he has recently met at his Mar-a-Lago mansion (Florida), he also considers that "there is no better or smarter leader": "He is the boss, a great leader, a fantastic leader. They respect him in Europe and in the world," he would have said.
Steven Cheung, spokesperson for Trump's campaign, did not want to comment on the statements, but in his response to the journalist, he recommended Kelly seek professional help "because his hatred is consuming his empty life."
Who has spoken out is the campaign of Democratic President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris.
"Today's information confirms that Trump ignores the Holocaust and the hundreds of thousands of American lives lost in World War II to praise one of history's most notorious dictators. This is not leadership: it is a betrayal of our values," they said in a statement.
For one of their spokespersons, Sarafina Chitika, those praises to Hitler are "shameful, but not surprising at all."
"They come from a man who has repeatedly echoed Nazi rhetoric during the election campaign, has called his political opponents 'vermin' and has lavished praise on dictators and authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin, Orbán, and Kim Jong Un, among others. When he speaks like a dictator, praises dictators, and says he wants to be a dictator, we should probably believe him," concluded Chitika.