Trump wanted Pentagon generals to be like Nazi Germany's generals

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Trump wanted Pentagon generals to be like Nazi Germany's generals

During his time in the Oval Office, Donald Trump wanted the Pentagon's generals to be like Nazi Germany's generals in the Second World War, according to a book excerpt in the New Yorker.

In exchange with former White House chief of staff John Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, Trump reportedly complained: "You fucking generals, why can't you be like the German generals?" Kelly asked which generals to ask, prompting Trump to reply: The German generals in World War II. According to the excerpt published by The New Yorker from The Divider: Trump in the White House by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, an incredulous Kelly pointed out that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was almost assassinated by one of his own generals.

No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him, Trump said, apparently unaware of Claus von Stauffenberg's plot to kill Hitler with a bomb inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters in July 1944.

Kelly told Trump that there were no American generals who observe total loyalty to a president. They swear to support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, as well as all military personnel. The stunning back-and- forth came during a dispute touched off by Trump's admiration for military parades, gleaned in part by observing the Bastille Day celebrations thrown in France by that country s president, Emmanuel Macron.

Trump wanted a similar military parade to mark the Fourth of July Independence Day holiday. His cabinet staff was less enthusiastic, and it became a point of contention.

According to the excerpt, a French general overseeing the 2017 Bastille Day parade in Paris turned to one of his American counterparts in Trump's delegation and said: "You are going to be doing this next year." On his return to Washington, Trump hatched a plan for the largest, grandest military parade ever for the Fourth of July, but the plans didn't go well with Trump's cabinet staff.

I d rather swallow acid, according to James Mattis, the defense secretary and former Marine Corps general, who said, offered that a similarly grandiose military parade was unfeasible in part because of the cost and the fear that tanks would tear up the streets of Washington.

Trump was already formulating his vision, telling Kelly: Look, I don't want any wounded guys in the parade. The subject came up repeatedly, according to the publication. With each pushback, Trump sented his admiration for the military advisers he used to refer to as my generals.

In one exchange involving Kelly and Paul Selva, then the vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Trump appeared surprised that the former military men were not supportive.

Selva, who had grown up in Ant nio de Oliveira Salazar's Portuguese dictatorship, informed Trump that parades were about showing the people who had guns. Trump responded.

In a statement to the magazine, Trump said these were very untalented people and once I realized it, I did not rely on them, I relied on the real generals and admirals within the system.