‘I Worked For John Kelly And Don’t Believe Him’: No One’s Buying Atlantic ‘Trump Loves Hitler’ Smear

The Atlantic’s “Trump loves Hitler” hit-piece hit a snag as several people who worked alongside — and for — retired Marine General John Kelly have come out to publicly dispute his claims.

In the article that was published on Tuesday, Kelly was quoted as saying that Trump had often praised “the German generals,” and when asked to clarify, had told Kelly he wanted the kind of generals that Hitler had. Kelly also claimed that Trump had praised Hitler for doing “some good things” like rebuilding the German economy after World War I.

But according to a few who worked either alongside or for Kelly in the Trump White House — who was at the time serving as Chief of Staff — the retired general’s words appear to be the complaints of a malcontented ex-employee directed at a former boss he no longer likes.

“I worked for John Kelly and don’t believe him,” Mercedes Schlapp said in a post on X. “His last ditch effort to stop Donald Trump is desperate. This is a personal vendetta from a staffer who failed at his job and believed as a chief of staff that he should have been the ultimate decisionmaker. President Trump loves America, will preserve our freedoms, and has done more for the Jewish people than any other president.”

I worked for John Kelly and don’t believe him. His last ditch effort to stop Donald Trump is desperate. This is a personal vendetta from a staffer who failed at his job and believed as a chief of staff that he should have been the ultimate decisionmaker. President Trump loves…

— Mercedes Schlapp (@mercedesschlapp) October 23, 2024

Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer gave a slightly different perspective, saying that he believed Kelly may have been among the so-called “experts” who felt as though they’d been unfairly cast aside when Trump didn’t simply take their word when deciding policy.

MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28

Sean Spicer reveals exactly what happened to make John Kelly hate President Trump. pic.twitter.com/seP4zlGkmk

— Ames (@VivaLaAmes11) October 24, 2024

Sirius XM podcast host — and Daily Wire voice talent — Megyn Kelly asked Spicer to weigh in on why so many of Trump’s former staffers seemed so willing to trash him publicly, and Spicer said that it was all about Trump’s insistence on disrupting the status quo.

“I think some of them just have a personal animus towards him because of how they personally were treated or the advice that they were giving — I watched it, constantly, in the Oval Office,” Spicer said, detailing how Trump had listened to the generals talk about Afghanistan, but had then called in a group of enlisted men who had served there to ask for their opinions and talk about their experiences on the ground.

“It pissed a lot of people off that he wasn’t taking the advice of the more senior people, and asking the enlisted folks, ‘Tell me what your experience has been. Did you understand the mission? Are we winning? Are we moving forward? Were you getting the equipment and the tools that you needed?'” Spicer recalled. “They hated that. They hated the fact that they came in, gave their PowerPoint presentation, and they were being undermined by a guy who didn’t just sign off on it with, like, a blank check.”

And they were not alone, either. Michael Morrison noted the timing, saying, “John Kelly was so shocked at how much Trump admired Hitler that he forgot about it for 5 years and conveniently remembered 2 weeks before the election. Got it.”

John Kelly was so shocked at how much Trump admired Hitler that he forgot about it for 5 years and conveniently remembered 2 weeks before the election.

Got it.

— Michael J. Morrison (@OfficeOfMike) October 23, 2024