Trump just keeps praising dictators, and it just keeps not mattering
It's bizarre that we have to say this out loud, but apparently it still needs to be said.
Adolf Hitler was an evil man who orchestrated the worst genocide in modern history. His regime killed 6 million Jewish people and hundreds of thousands of Romani people and people with disabilities. There is no redemption arc for Hitler. We all agree on that, right?
And yet, Donald Trump doesn't seem to realize that.
The former president and presumptive Republican Party nominee was put on blast by former Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly, who recently told CNN that Trump said Hitler “did some good things.”
According to Kelly, Trump specifically praised Hitler for German economic growth and his control of Nazi officers.
It is particularly ironic that the man whose slogan is “America First” would say this about someone the United States went to war with, but it isn't the first time Trump has fawned over evil and authoritarian world leaders.
It has happened so much that it can feel odd to have to keep repeating how bad it is for a former American president and current presumptive presidential nominee to say these things, regardless of that person's political party.
Trump plays host to the Hungarian prime minister
Trump's past comments were brought to the forefront after he hosted Viktor Orbán, Hungary's rightwing nationalist prime minister, at Mar-a-Lago. This is a leader that once said his country didn't want “peoples of mixed race.”
Trump does not seem to care, going so far as to say “there's nobody that's better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán.”
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden told a crowd in Philadelphia that Orbán “stated flatly he doesn't think democracy works, he's looking for dictatorship.”
It's frightening that a former president would undermine the current one's authority by hosting any nationalist world leader who has said things that go against what the U.S. has stood for. It's especially scary when it's someone who has taken the approach Orbán has as prime minister.
Trump has a history of praising authoritarians
The former president hasn't stopped there. He quoted Vladimir Putin at a campaign rally in December of last year. He's bragged about his relationship with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. He has praised Saddam Hussein's terrorism tactics.
These comments reflect on the Republican Party in a way they have yet to acknowledge in the last eight years. It's hard to imagine Biden praising communists without getting flak from inside the Democratic Party, so why don't Republicans hold their own presidential nominee to the same standard?
Why does none of this seem to matter to Republican voters who just gave Trump the party again?
Trump’s comments matter more as he nears nomination
Trump's affinity for autocrats makes it clear that he has his own ambitions for total control of the United States.
He has “joked” more than once that he would like to be “a dictator for one day” if he's re-elected in 2024. He has said he could shoot somebody without losing voters.
He is currently trying to claim immunity before the Supreme Court so that he is absolved from the legal ramifications of things he did during and after his presidency, including his involvement in the Jan. 6 riot.
Trump has been telling us he wants total control for years. Now that he is the Republican Party's nominee for president, these comments should carry weight with voters. He's constantly in the news, whether for his campaigning or legal battles, so his comments can feel normalized, and it becomes impossible to remember every crazy thing he has said or posted.
But if you remember anything about Trump ahead of the election, it should be this: He's not going away. His views and rhetoric aren't changing. What's most concerning about Trump's love affair with authoritarianism is how easy it is for his followers to ignore it, and how easily undecided voters could miss it entirely.
So, everybody who is bothered by this, Republicans and Democrats alike, should keep pointing to his comments for the rest of this election.
Then voters can ultimately decide if they support this or not.
Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter, @sara__pequeno and Facebook facebook.com/PequenoWrites