Trump asked why his generals couldn’t be more like Hitler’s, book says
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump told his top White House aide that he wished he had generals like the ones who had reported to German dictator Adolf Hitler, saying they were “totally loyal” to the leader of the Nazi regime, according to a forthcoming book about the 45th president.
“Why can’t you be like the German generals?” Trump asked John Kelly, his chief of staff, according to an excerpt from “The Divider: Trump in the White House,” by Peter
Baker and Susan Glasser, published online by The New Yorker on Monday.
The excerpt depicts Trump as frustrated by his top military officials, whom he saw as insufficiently loyal or obedient to him.
In the conversation with Kelly, which took place years before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the authors write, the chief of staff told Trump that Germany’s generals had “tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off.” Trump was dismissive, according to the excerpt, apparently unaware of the World War II history that Kelly, a retired four-star general, knew.
“‘No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him,’ Trump replied,” according to the book’s authors.
Much of the excerpt focuses on Gen. Mark Milley, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the country’s top military official, under Trump. When the president offered him the job, Milley told him, “I’ll do whatever you ask me to do.”
But he quickly soured on Trump.
Milley’s frustration with Trump peaked June 1, 2020, when Black Lives Matter protesters filled Lafayette Square near the White House. Trump demanded to send in the military to clear the protesters, but Milley and other top aides refused.
In response, Trump shouted, “You are all losers!” according to the excerpt. “Turning to Milley, Trump said, ‘Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?’ ” the authors write.
A week after that episode, Milley wrote — but never delivered — a resignation letter, accusing the president he served of politicizing the military, “ruining the international order,” failing to value diversity, and embracing the tyranny, dictatorship and extremism that members of the military had sworn to fight against.
Milley eventually decided to stay in office so he could ensure that the military could serve as a bulwark against an increasingly out-of-control president, according to the authors.