On Wednesday, a fellow general appealed to John Kelly, the former four-star Marine who served as Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff, to lend his endorsement to Kamala Harris.
Retired Brigadier General Steve Anderson, a Republican who is endorsing Kamala Harris, expressed his disappointment with those who have not embraced her, including John Bolton and Mark Esper.
According to Carroll, Kelly tried his best to remain neutral in partisan politics but eventually had to express his opinions.
The Harris-Walz campaign organized a call between Carroll, Anderson, and the participants. Its purpose was to showcase recent articles from The Atlantic and The New York Times. These articles featured Kelly’s remarks on record, where she referred to Trump as a “fascist” and accused him of praising Adolph Hitler.
He expressed his thoughts, saying, “If we don’t take action now and speak up, what will we do? Wait for authoritarianism to take over, with our children being indoctrinated into a Trump-led movement? That’s a potential future we must prevent.”
Anderson expressed his disappointment that Kelly has not endorsed Harris. He acknowledged Kelly’s perspective that military leaders should refrain from making endorsements. However, he pointed out that by accepting the position of chief of staff to Trump, Kelly has compromised his neutrality.
According to The Atlantic, Trump reportedly told his former White House chief of staff, John Kelly, that he needed generals similar to those that Hitler had.
In a recent report by The New York Times, Kelly, a former Marine general, voiced his grave concerns regarding President Trump’s remarks about employing the military against his political opponents. Kelly emphasized the potential dangers of having an unfit individual in a position of power, stating, “It is highly risky to have someone ill-suited elected to a high office.”
According to Kelly, the former president’s political ideologies align with those of the far-right and authoritarian leaders. He has expressed admiration for dictators, which categorizes him as a fascist based on the general definition.
The Trump campaign has strongly denied the recent reports and criticized Kelly personally. In a press release issued on Wednesday, the former president’s team labeled the Atlantic as “dishonest” and insinuated that the publication’s sensational article had ulterior political motives.
According to Carroll, men like Kelly are known for their honesty, which is a quality that cannot be attributed to Donald Trump.
Anderson stated that even if Kelly does not endorse Harris for president, he is confident about his own voting choice. In his words, “The man would rather chew broken glass than vote for Donald Trump.”