Trump compared his generals to Hitler’s, book says

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump told his top White House aide that he wished he had generals like the ones who had reported to 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 told John Kelly, his chief of staff, preceding the question with an obscenity, 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 morning. (Baker is the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times; Glasser is a staff writer for The New Yorker.)

The excerpt depicts Trump as deeply 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 attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, 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 all too well.

“‘No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him,’ the president replied,” according to the book’s authors. “In his version of history, the generals of the Third Reich had been completely subservient to Hitler; this was the model he wanted for his military.”

Much of the excerpt focuses on General Mark A. Milley, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the country’s top military official, under Trump.

The general’s frustration with the president peaked on 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 scathing resignation letter.

Milley eventually decided to remain 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 of the book.