His Former Chief of Staff John Kelly: “Trump fitted the general definition of a fascist.”

🔤🔤🔤🔤1️⃣

Donald Trump has denounced his own former chief of staff, John Kelly, as a “degenerate” and a “low life” after the former US Marine Corps general gained the backing of Kamala Harris for calling his ex-boss a fascist.

With Kelly’s intervention in effect propelling the debate over fascism firmly to the centre of the US presidential election, the Republican nominee also turned his fire on his Democratic opponent. He inaccurately accused Harris of calling him Adolf Hitler after the vice-president amplified Kelly’s comments in a televised address before endorsing them in a CNN town hall meeting.

Trump’s angry fusillade came in social media posts amid the fallout from Kelly’s comments in a New York Times interview in which he recalled the former US president repeatedly lauding Hitler’s achievements when he was in the White House.

Is Donald Trump a fascist?
In a separate interview with the Atlantic, Kelly described Trump lamenting that he did not have generals who were loyal in the way he believed German military commanders had been to Hitler.

Trump responded on his Truth Social platform, calling Kelly – who was his White House chief of staff for 18 months – a “degenerate…..who made up a story out of pure Trump Derangement Syndrome Hatred.

“This guy had two qualities, which don’t work well together,”

he wrote.

“He was tough and dumb. John Kelly is a low life.”

Kelly told the Times that Trump “fitted the general definition of a fascist” and said he would rule as a dictator if elected again.

In Wednesday’s statement, Harris – who had been issuing increasingly strident warnings on the campaign trail about Trump’s authoritarian outlook in the face of his increasingly threatening rhetoric – said the interview showed that he sought “unchecked power”.

She added that it was “deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous” that he would “invoke” Hitler. She later told the CNN moderator Anderson Cooper that she agreed that Trump was a fascist and praised Kelly for sending a “911 call” to the nation.

Trump responded with a post on X that received more than 20m views and 292,000 likes, accusing Harris of “going so far as to call me Adolf Hitler, and anything else that comes to her warped mind”, because, he claimed, polls indicated she was losing.

#Trump #Harris #Kelly

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

🔤🔤🔤🔤2️⃣

Trump’s campaign’s communications director, Steven Cheung, accused Harris of “dangerous rhetoric” which he said was “directly to blame for the multiple assassination attempts against President Trump”.

However, Kelly’s depiction of Trump as an undemocratic authoritarian was backed up by Elizabeth Neumann, a former deputy chief of staff in the homeland security department in his administration, who told Politico that he “does not operate by the rule of law”.

“Does he have authoritarian tendencies? Yes,”

she said.

“Is he kind of leaning towards that ultra-nationalism component? Absolutely.”

Trump’s Republican supporters belittled Kelly’s intervention. Chris Sununu, the Republican governor of New Hampshire, called his portrayal of the former president “an outrageous statement” and said Trump’s own record of extreme statements was “baked in” to the electorate’s assessment.

“I respect John Kelly a lot, but obviously, everyone knows there’s a huge personal relationship divide,”

Sununu told NewsNation.

The row overshadowed other developments on the campaign trail, where the Republican nominee extended his catalogue of recent threats to Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by the justice department to investigate allegations that he tried to overturn the 2020 election and hide classified documents.

Asked by the conservative broadcaster Hugh Hewitt whether he would grant himself a presidential pardon or fire Smith if elected, Trump said: “It’s so easy. I would fire him within two seconds.”

He also noted that “we got immunity from the supreme court,” a reference to a ruling by the court’s conservative majority last June that presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts carried out in the line of duty.

#Trump #Harris #Kelly

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Hegseth Weaponizes the Pentagon: Military Justice as Trump's Political Hitlist

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth just conscripted the Pentagon into Trump's retribution campaign, ordering investigations into Democratic lawmakers who reminded troops they can refuse illegal orders. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.)—both military veterans and vocal Trump critics—are now targets of military justice probes for their role in a video stating what's already enshrined in the Uniform Code of Military Justice: service members must disobey unlawful commands. Hegseth and Trump labeled the message "seditious," a charge multiple retired military lawyers say violates due process and could tank any criminal case.

The Video That Broke the Taboo
Six Democratic lawmakers—all with military or intelligence backgrounds—made a short video reminding active-duty personnel of their legal duty to refuse illegal orders. The message appeared aimed at troops involved in Trump's domestic deployments and the deadly Caribbean boat strikes targeting alleged drug smugglers, which legal experts call violations of the laws of armed conflict. Hegseth called it a "politically-motivated influence operation" and ordered the Navy to brief him by Dec. 10 on findings against Kelly. The FBI is also involved.

Vindman's "Crime": Asking About the Khashoggi Call
Vindman, central to Trump's first impeachment, requested the release of a 2019 Trump-Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman phone call transcript—content Vindman says would be "shocking." Days later, the Pentagon's top lawyer urged House committees to investigate Vindman for allegedly violating foreign influence laws. Vindman denies the charges. The crown prince, per U.S. intelligence, approved the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Trump has defended Mohammed; Vindman calls that stance "disturbing."

The Chilling Effect: Retired Generals Make Lists
A retired Army general told The Washington Post he made a list after Trump's reelection: the ways the administration could come after him if he spoke out. Three scenarios: civil suit, IRS audit, or recall to active duty for military criminal charges.

"Trump's retribution campaign has had a significant chilling effect,"

he said. Retired officers note the hypocrisy: Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, chanted "lock her up" at the 2016 GOP convention—overtly political speech—but Kelly's reminder of legal duty gets him investigated.

#hegseth #trump #pentagon #kelly #vindman #militaryjustice #retaliation #firstamendment

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Hegseth Accused of Ordering "Kill Them All" Strike on Boat Survivors—Allies Call It Fake News

The Washington Post reported Friday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a second strike in September to kill survivors of a boat attack off Venezuela's coast, targeting alleged drug traffickers. CNN confirmed the reporting Saturday. Hegseth dismissed it on X as "fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory."

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) backed him on CNN, calling the reports anonymous and unproven, insisting Trump is "protecting the United States by being proactive." Attorney General Pam Bondi declined to discuss the legal memo justifying the strikes but warned

"Venezuela drug dealers need to tread very, very carefully."

Congressional Oversight: Bipartisan Alarms, Canceled Briefings
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) issued a rare joint statement Saturday vowing "rigorous oversight" and demanding "a full accounting of the operation in question."

A congressional briefing on the strikes around the time of Hegseth's alleged order was abruptly canceled. The admiral overseeing the South American and Caribbean region stepped down in October—no explanation given.

Kelly Says Second Strikes Could Be War Crimes
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a former Navy captain, said a second strike on survivors "seems to" be a war crime if the reports are accurate.

"I've got serious concerns about anybody in that chain of command stepping over a line they should never step over,"

Kelly told CNN.

"We're not Iraq. We hold ourselves to a very high standard of professionalism."

Kelly is one of six Democratic veterans who recorded a video reminding service members to refuse illegal orders—and he's now facing a military investigation for that video.

"I'm not backing down. They don't scare me,"

he said.

The Pentagon's Own Manual Calls It Illegal
The Defense Department's Law of War Manual explicitly uses shooting shipwrecked survivors as an example of a "clearly illegal" order that service members must refuse.

"For example, orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal,"

the manual states on page 1117. If Hegseth ordered a second strike on survivors, his own department's rulebook says it's a war crime—and troops should have refused.

#hegseth #trump #venezuela #boatstrikes #warcrime #kelly #pentagon #drugwar #caribbean

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸