In what was likely meant as a defense of Donald Trump, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade asked his audience to believe that the former president might not have known Adolf Hitler's generals were Nazis.
On a Wednesday episode of Fox & Friends, Kilmeade ran interference on a recent interview with former Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly. In that talk with The Atlantic, Kelly doubled down on an anecdote in which then-president Trump wished he had "the kind of generals that Hitler had."
Kilmeade couldn't believe that Trump possibly know that Hitler's top brass were also Nazis.
"I can absolutely see him go, 'It'd be great to have German generals that actually do what we ask them to do,' maybe not fully being cognizant of the third rail of German generals who were Nazis or whatever," Kilmeade said.
Fox host Brian Kilmeade justifies Trump wanting German generals
— Lis Power (@LisPower1) October 23, 2024
Kilmeade: I can absolutely see him go it'd be great to have German generals that actually do what we ask them to do, maybe not fully being cognizant of the third rail of German generals who were Nazis or whatever pic.twitter.com/6lpjH6foEk
For what it's worth, Kelly told the Atlantic he gave Trump every opportunity to back away from his ask. He said he ran through the history of German authority figures, with Trump reiterating that he meant he wanted generals with the loyalty of the upper echelons of the military of Nazi Germany.
"I said, ‘Do you mean the Kaiser’s generals? Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals?" Kelly said. "And he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.’ I explained to him that Rommel had to commit suicide after taking part in a plot against Hitler.”
Kelly isn't alone in speaking out against his old boss. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley called the current Republican nominee for president "fascist to the core" and “the most dangerous person to this country" in Bob Woodward's new book "War."
