In a recent episode of Fox & Friends, Brian Kilmeade and his fellow hosts grappled with Donald Trump’s troubling remarks about wanting generals akin to those of the Nazi regime, but their explanations fell flat.
As reported by The Atlantic, during his final months in office, Trump expressed a desire for “the kind of generals that Hitler had—people who were totally loyal to him, who follow orders.” In a private conversation, Trump even questioned his former chief of staff, John Kelly, asking, “Why can’t you be like the German generals?” To which Kelly had to clarify that Hitler’s generals had attempted to assassinate him multiple times. Yet Trump remained unconvinced, insisting, “They were totally loyal to him.”
Kilmeade attempted to put a positive spin on Trump’s comments, suggesting that the former president was merely expressing a desire for obedience from his military leaders.
“Play this out: If your general, who’s your chief of staff and your secretary of defense, is not doing what you say on an everyday basis, I could see him going, ‘I’d love generals that listened, that would be great,’” Kilmeade explained.
He then criticized Kelly and former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, both retired generals, claiming they didn’t support Trump and hindered his directives. Kilmeade further posited that Trump’s background in the family business had shaped his expectations of loyalty. “He’s from a world where his company is huge but family-run,” Kilmeade noted. “When he asked Eric to do something, they’d do it. It’s not even publicly traded; he doesn’t have board members.”
Continuing his defense, Kilmeade suggested that Trump’s frustration stemmed from the perceived insubordination of his military leaders, implying that he might not have fully grasped the historical implications of his comments about German generals. “It’d be great to have German generals that actually do what we ask them to do,” he stated, downplaying the gravity of Trump’s words.
Host Lawrence B. Jones chimed in, insisting that Trump’s frustration wasn’t just about slow responses but rather a deeper sense of insubordination. Despite their attempts to rationalize Trump’s comments, the hosts seemed unable to convincingly detach his admiration for Nazi generals from the historical reality of their actions.
Watch the segment below from Fox News:
Fox host Brian Kilmeade justifies Trump wanting German generals
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
— Lis Power (@LisPower1) October 23, 2024