Former US President Donald Trump complained to then-White House Chief of Staff John Kelly that American generals were not as loyal to him as he believed German generals had been to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, a new book about Trump’s tenure in office claims.
“You f---ing generals, why can’t you be like the German generals?” Trump asked Kelly, according to an excerpt published Monday in the New Yorker and quoted by CNBC of the book, “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021.” The book was authored by married journalist couple Susan Glasser and Peter Baker.
“Which generals?” Kelly replied.
“The German generals in World War II,” Trump responded, according to the excerpt of the book, which will be published in September.
“You do know that they tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off?” Kelly said, according to the book excerpt.
Trump then said, “No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him,” the excerpt said.
Glasser and Baker describe how Trump soured on Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, after Milley, then-Attorney General William Barr and Defense Secretary Mark Esper resisted his demands to have the military respond to protests outside the White House in response to the murder by police officers of George Floyd.
“You are all losers! You are all f---ing losers!” Trump told them, according to the excerpt published on Monday.
“Turning to Milley, Trump said, ‘Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?’” Glasser and Baker reported.
Trump, in an emailed statement, said Milley and other generals referenced in the book 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.”
Trump’s statement went on to list a series of accomplishments he took responsibility for, including keeping the U.S. “out of wars.”
Trump while president also reportedly showed distaste for the idea of injured armed services members, including those in wheelchairs and missing limbs, participating in a huge military parade that he wanted in Washington on Independence Day, the book says.
“Look, I don’t want any wounded guys in the parade,” Trump told Kelly, whose own son was killed in combat in Afghanistan, according to the excerpt. “This doesn’t look good for me.”
That parade never came to fruition after retired generals such as his then-Defense Secretary James Mattis and Air Force General Paul Selva, the then-vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, strongly resisted the idea, which would have cost millions of dollars and damaged Washington’s streets.
