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Trump once said, “I need generals like Hitler”?

Trump once said, “I need generals like Hitler”?

Claim:

In 2020, Trump told two people in a private conversation at the White House: “I need generals like Hitler.”

Rating:

Unproven

October 22, 2024 article published in the Atlantic caused a wave of indignation on the part of Democrats. In it, author Jeffrey Goldberg, who is also the magazine’s editor-in-chief, claimed that two people testified in 2020 that the former US president Donald Trump said in a private conversation at the White House that he needed “generals like Hitler’s… ppeople who were completely devoted to him, who follow orders.”

Dozens with social networks users shared access claim and article including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whose post which referenced the claim, has garnered more than 2.4 million views as of this writing. Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris also responded to the charges on October 23, saying in a press conference outside her residence in Washington, D.C.: “This is a window into who Donald Trump really is, from the people who know him best, from the people who have worked side by side with him in the Oval Office and in the situation room.”

However, some social media users were skeptical. One X user replying to Walz’s post, asked: “This is an extremely serious claim. What is your source?”

Despite this, The Atlantic reported that Trump said he wanted “generals like Hitler,” but Goldberg did not provide details on who gave him the alleged quote, nor any physical evidence that Trump said it. (eg audio or video recording). But it wasn’t the first time people accused Trump of idolizing Adolf Hitler.

Trump said, “I need generals like Hitler”?

The Atlantic article described Trump’s interactions with two people. The relevant section read as follows:

As his presidency drew to a close and in the years that followed, he became more and more interested in the benefits of dictatorship and the absolute control over the military that he believed it would provide. “I need generals like Hitler,” Trump said in a private conversation at the White House, according to two people who heard him speak. “People who were completely devoted to him, who followed orders.” (“This is absolutely false,” (Alex) Pfeiffer (Trump’s spokesman) wrote in an email. “President Trump never said that.”)

Goldberg offered no further insight into the reporting process — for example, The Atlantic offered no other evidence to explain his confidence in publishing the statement, other than citing two anonymous people who allegedly “heard (Trump) say it.”

Snopes emailed the magazine seeking more evidence and asking whether the two people had spoken directly with Goldberg. We’ll update this story if we hear back.

However, at the time of writing, there was no corroborating evidence other than the alleged testimony of two unnamed people. Therefore, until more information is released regarding the context of this quote and its origin, we rate this claim as unproven.

That wasn’t an isolated allegation, however — Trump’s former chief of staff, General John Kelly, also once said the former president spoke favorably of Hitler.

This is not the first time that people have accused Trump of worshiping Hitler

In May 2024 Snopes reviewed the claims Kelly suggested that Trump said Hitler “did some good things.” We rated these rumors as unsubstantiated because they needed additional confirmation from witnesses or audio or video recordings.

Kelly recently spoke with The Atlantic (in the same article) and The New York Times. In the first instance, he claimed the Republican candidate once said he wished his generals were more like German ones, and in the second, Kelly said Trump once told him, “You know, Hitler did some good ones too things”.

The corresponding paragraph in The Atlantic article read as follows:

I asked Kelly about their exchange this week. He told me that when Trump brought up the subject of “German generals,” Kelly responded by asking, “You mean Bismarck’s generals?” He continued: “I mean, I knew he didn’t know who Bismarck was, or About the Franco-Prussian War I said, ‘You can’t mean the Kaiser’s generals.’ Hitler’s generals? And he said, “Yes, yes, Hitler’s generals.” I explained to him that Rommel had been forced to commit suicide after taking part in a plot against Hitler.” Kelly told me that Trump did not know Rommel.

Likewise in the 2022 book”Divider: Trump in the White House,” journalists Peter Baker and Susan Glasser wrote about how Kelly once conveyed to his associates that Trump had asked to him: “Why can’t you be like the German generals?” to which Kelly allegedly replied that German generals “tried to kill Hitler three times and almost failed.” According to Kelly, Trump then said: “No, no, no, they were quite loyal to him.”

in piece Asked by The New York Times on the same day as The Atlantic if he thought Trump was a fascist, Kelly said: “Of course the former president is on the far right, he’s certainly authoritarian, he admires people who are dictators — he said that, so he definitely falls under the general definition of a fascist.”

Trump responded to Kelly’s comments on Oct. 23, writing on X and Truth Social:

(Truth Social user @realDonaldTrump)

However, Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, said in an interview with CNN’s Catilan Collins on October 22: “You can take what John (Kelly) says to the bank.”

Result…

In all, two people reportedly accused Trump of saying, “I want generals like Hitler,” and his former chief of staff also repeatedly claimed the former president said he wished his generals were more like German generals.

However, Goldberg, the Atlantic writer, did not provide any details about who gave him the quote or any physical evidence that Trump said it. Therefore, until The Atlantic can provide further insight into its reporting, or until physical evidence or further corroboration from witnesses is available, we rate this claim as unproven.