A group of Donald Trump-era officials have rallied behind former Chief of Staff John Kelly after he warned that the former president behaves like a “fascist” and craves dictatorship.
In a letter first reported by Politico on Friday, 13 officials who worked under former US president Trump said they “applaud” Kelly for speaking out against the former president.
“There are moments in history where it becomes necessary to put country over party,” wrote the officials, all lifelong Republicans. “This is one of those moments.”
They added, “Everyone should heed General Kelly’s warning.”
The officials include former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Elizabeth Neumann, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham and former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews.
‘The dictator approach’
Kelly, a retired general who was Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff, made waves when he detailed his concerns about a possible second Trump term.
Kelly told the New York Times that, as president, Trump “preferred the dictator approach”, scorned the US Constitution and threatened to weaponise the US military against his domestic foes.
The former chief of staff also said Trump repeatedly complimented Hitler.
“He’s certainly the only president that has all but rejected what America is all about, and what makes America, America,” said Kelly, adding that he thought Trump lacked empathy.
Trump’s campaign has denied Kelly’s account, calling the four-star general a “total degenerate” and a “lowlife”.
But the 13 officials backing Kelly say they are not surprised by his allegations about Trump.
“The revelations General Kelly brought forward are disturbing and shocking,” they wrote. “But because we know Trump and have worked for and alongside him, we were sadly not surprised by what General Kelly had to say.”
Threat to democracy?
Since leaving office, Donald Trump has faced an unprecedented backlash from senior officials within his party, many of whom warn that he poses a unique threat to democracy.
Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has endorsed Trump’s Democratic opponent Kamala Harris for president, stated that there has never been a “greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.”
Harris has capitalised on the Republican critiques, saying their warnings provide “a window into who Donald Trump really is.”
“Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable”, Harris told reporters outside the White House on Wednesday. If he wins a second term, officials like Kelly will not be there to “rein him in”, she added.
More than 80 American Nobel Prize winners in physics, chemistry, medicine and economics have also signed an open letter endorsing Harris for president, which was published on Thursday by the New York Times.
The Nobel laureates warned that Trump would ” jeopardise any advancements in our standards of living” because of his previous proposals for science funding.
Trump and Harris are currently neck and neck in the polls ahead of the November 5 election, which analysts describe as a toss-up.
With 11 days to go, the latest poll by CNN found 47 percent of likely voters support Harris and an equal 47 percent support Trump.
Only 2 percent of all likely voters say they haven’t yet chosen a candidate, and another 9 percent say that they could change their minds before casting a ballot, CNN reported.
