{"id":1049087,"date":"2024-10-22T20:07:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T00:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1049087"},"modified":"2024-10-22T20:08:30","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T00:08:30","slug":"icymi-the-atlantic-trump-i-need-the-kind-of-generals-that-hitler-had","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-the-atlantic-trump-i-need-the-kind-of-generals-that-hitler-had\/","title":{"rendered":"ICYMI: The Atlantic: \u201cTrump: \u2018I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had\u2019\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"341\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1038290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image.png 1500w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image.png?resize=300,100 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image.png?resize=768,256 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image.png?resize=1024,341 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Point:<\/strong> \u201cAs his presidency drew to a close, and in the years since, [Donald Trump] has become more and more interested in the advantages of dictatorship, and the absolute control over the military that he believes it would deliver. \u2018I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,\u2019 Trump said in a private conversation in the White House, according to two people who heard him say this. \u2018People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2024\/10\/trump-military-generals-hitler\/680327\/\"><strong>The Atlantic<\/strong><\/a><strong>: Trump: \u201cI Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By: Jeffrey Goldberg<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In an Oval Office meeting on December 4, 2020, officials gathered to discuss a separate national-security issue. Toward the end of the discussion, Trump asked for an update on the McCarthy investigation. [&#8230;] At a certain point, according to two people present at the meeting, Trump asked, \u201cDid they bill us for the funeral? What did it cost?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to attendees, and to contemporaneous notes of the meeting taken by a participant, an aide answered: Yes, we received a bill; the funeral cost $60,000.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Trump became angry. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!\u201d He turned to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and issued an order: \u201cDon\u2019t pay it!\u201d Later that day, he was still agitated. \u201cCan you believe it?\u201d he said, according to a witness. \u201cFucking people, trying to rip me off.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The personal qualities displayed by Trump in his reaction to the cost of the Guill\u00e9n funeral\u2014contempt, rage, parsimony, racism\u2014hardly surprised his inner circle. Trump has frequently voiced his disdain for those who serve in the military and for their devotion to duty, honor, and sacrifice. Former generals who have worked for Trump say that the sole military virtue he prizes is obedience.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Trump has frequently voiced his disdain for those who serve in the military and for their devotion to duty, honor, and sacrifice. Former generals who have worked for Trump say that the sole military virtue he prizes is obedience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>As his presidency drew to a close, and in the years since, he has become more and more interested in the advantages of dictatorship, and the absolute control over the military that he believes it would deliver. \u201cI need the kind of generals that Hitler had,\u201d Trump said in a private conversation in the White House, according to two people who heard him say this. \u201cPeople who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.\u201d<\/strong><br><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Former officials have also cited other recurring themes: his denigration of military service, his ignorance of the provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, his admiration for brutality and anti-democratic norms of behavior, and his contempt for wounded veterans and for soldiers who fell in battle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cThe military is a foreign country to him. He doesn\u2019t understand the customs or codes,\u201d McCaffrey said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t penetrate. It starts with the fact that he thinks it\u2019s foolish to do anything that doesn\u2019t directly benefit himself.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>[John Kelly] told me that when Trump raised the subject of \u201cGerman generals,\u201d Kelly responded by asking, \u201c\u2018Do you mean Bismarck\u2019s generals?\u2019\u201d He went on: \u201cI mean, I knew he didn\u2019t know who Bismarck was, or about the Franco-Prussian War. I said, \u2018Do you mean the kaiser\u2019s generals? Surely you can\u2019t mean Hitler\u2019s generals? And he said, \u2018Yeah, yeah, Hitler\u2019s generals.\u2019 I explained to him that Rommel had to commit suicide after taking part in a plot against Hitler.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Baker and Glasser also reported that Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, feared that Trump\u2019s \u201c\u2018Hitler-like\u2019 embrace of the big lie about the election would prompt the president to seek out a \u2018Reichstag moment.\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cThe Chinese generals would know what to do,\u201d [Trump] said, according to former officials who described the conversations to me, referring to the leaders of the People\u2019s Liberation Army, which carried out the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In recent days, [Trump] has signaled that, should he win reelection in November, he would like to govern in the manner of these dictators\u2014he has said explicitly that he would like to be a dictator for a day on his first day back in the White House\u2014and he has threatened to, among other things, unleash the military on \u201cradical-left lunatics.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Point: \u201cAs his presidency drew to a close, and in the years since, [Donald Trump] has become more and more interested in the advantages of dictatorship, and the absolute control over the military that he believes it would deliver. \u2018I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,\u2019 Trump said in a private conversation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1049087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - 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