Donald Trump
Donald TrumpReuters

A new book is accusing former President Donald Trump of making positive statements about Adolf Hitler.

In the upcoming book by The Wall Street Journal’s White House correspondent, Michael Bender, entitled: Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost, Trump is quoted as having praised Hitler’s handling of the German economy, a statement which disturbed White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

The comment, according to Bender, was made during Trump's 2018 trip to Europe to mark the 100th anniversary of the World War I armistice.

The alleged quote, which Trump denied in the book, was cited by Bender while discussing what he called America’s “loathsome history on civil rights”, calling Trump’s alleged comments proof of his “stunning disregard for history.”

“Trump’s indifference to Black history was similar to his disregard for the history of any race, religion, or creed,” Bender wrote.

“Well, Hitler did a lot of good things,” Trump is quoted as telling Kelly, according to Bender.

Bender wrote that Trump denied making the remark and ever having praised Hitler, though the book claims other, unnamed sources, confirmed the comments, adding that Kelly was “stunned” and told Trump he was wrong. No named sources were provided to back up the claim regarding Trump's alleged remarks.

“Trump pointed to Germany’s economic gains once Hitler took over as chancellor,” Bender wrote. Kelly pushed back again and argued that the German people would have been better off poor than subjected to the Nazi genocide.”

Bender quoted Kelly as telling Trump: “Even if it was true that he was solely responsible for rebuilding the economy, on balance, you cannot ever say anything supportive of Adolf Hitler. You just can’t.”

Linking Trump’s alleged comments on Hitler to the death of George Floyd in 2020 and the White House’s response to violent riots that year, Bender wrote that Trump “hadn’t internalized the lessons of history.”

Later, Bender claimed Trump wanted to deploy the military to curb violent attacks in the wake of Floyd’s death, quoting him as saying he wanted to “beat the f*** out of” rioters and “crack their skulls” – an alleged quote pushed late last month by CNN’s Jake Tapper.