The former president wanted to prevent the presence of the mutilated in a military parade because they did not give a “good picture”.
Former US President Donald Trump complained that his generals were not as loyal to him as he thinks the German generals were to dictator Adolf Hitler during World War II, “The New Yorker” magazine reveals in a journalism survey based on a new book.
Specifically, it refers to Trump’s idea of promoting a major military parade of tanks and other heavy equipment through the streets of Washington to mark the Independence Day festivities.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff’s “number two” General Paul Selva then replied that it was a bad idea, very expensive, and that “that’s what dictators do”, which provoked Trump’s anger.
Damn generals! Why can’t you be like the German generals?” Trump snapped. “Which generals?” asked Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman John Kelly. “German generals in World War II,” Trump responded.
“Do you know that they tried three times to kill Hitler and almost succeeded?” countered Kelly. “No no no. They were absolutely loyal to him,” Trump said.
Trump also clashed with the military high command when he told them he didn’t want mutilated people or wheelchairs in the parade, as he had seen on a recent visit to Paris. “I don’t want them. They don’t give me a good picture,” he argued.
“They are the heroes,” Kelly replied then. “In our society there is only one class of people more heroic and that is those who are buried in Arlington,” the historic US military cemetery where Kelly herself buried a son who died in Afghanistan. Kelly was removed from office in late 2018 and the Washington Military Parade was held in 2019.
Trump had already expressed his admiration for Hitler in 2018, when he said that “Hitler has done a lot of good things” in economic affairs, Kelly said, although a spokesman for the then president denied the facts, calling them “fake news.”
In addition, some generals, such as Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley, feared Trump would provoke a conflict with Iran after losing the November 2021 election to try to stay in power. Milley even traveled to Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convince him not to push Trump in that direction. “If you do that, we’ll have a fucking war,” the general told Netanyahu.
The article in “The New Yorker” is based on a book, “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021,” written by the magazine journalist Susan Glasser and White House correspondent for “The New York Times.” ‘, Peter Baker.
Commenting on the article, Trump told The New Yorker that “these are people with very little talent and as soon as I realized it, I stopped relying on them and started relying on the real generals and admirals.”
Source: La Verdad
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