Tensions are rising between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, less than two weeks before Election Day in the United States.
The two candidates continue their frantic tours of the swing states, the real deciding factor in a very close race, and continue to attack each other without holding back.
she believed that Trump was a fascist, Harris replied twice, “Yes, I do.” Later, she brought it up herself, saying Trump would, if elected again, be “a president who admires dictators and is a fascist” the Democrat reiterated at the meeting with voters in Pennsylvania. “And it’s not just me who thinks so, but also the people who worked with him,” said the US vice president, quoting former chief of staff John Kelly who in a book reported the tycoon’s infamous phrase about “Hitler’s generals” that he would have wanted. “Trump will not defend the American Constitution, he will kill it,” added Harris, “I believe Donald Trump is a danger to the well-being and security of the United States of America,” she said.
The comments from Kelly, the retired Marine general who worked for Trump in the White House from 2017 to 2019, built on past warnings from former top Trump officials as the election enters its final two weeks.
Kelly has long been critical of Trump and previously accused him of calling veterans killed in combat “suckers” and “losers.” His new warnings emerged as Donald Trump seeks a second term vowing to dramatically expand his use of the military at home and suggesting he would use force to go after Americans he considers “enemies from within.”
A new approach that draws on different experiences,” he explained, once again distancing himself from Joe Biden and announcing a series of measures to lower the cost of food and housing.
Harris’ campaign held a call with reporters on Tuesday to elevate the voices of retired military officials, who highlighted how many of the officials who worked with Trump now oppose his campaign.
“People that know him best are most opposed to him, his presidency,” said retired Army Brig. Gen. Steve Anderson.
Anderson said he wished Kelly would fully back Harris over Trump, something he has yet to do. But retired Army Reserve Col. Kevin Carroll, a former senior counselor to Kelly, said Wednesday that the former top Trump official would “rather chew broken glass than vote for Donald Trump.”
Before serving as Trump’s chief of staff, Kelly worked as the former president’s secretary of homeland security, where he oversaw Trump’s attempts to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. Kelly was also at the forefront of the administration’s crackdown on immigration policy that led to the separation of thousands of immigrant parents and their children along the southern border. Those actions made him a villain to many on the left, including Harris.
In his interview with the New York Times, Kelly also said Trump met the definition of a fascist. After reading the definition aloud, including that fascism was “a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader,” Kelly concluded Trump “certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”
Kelly added that Trump often fumed at any attempt to constrain his power, and that “he would love to be” a dictator.
“He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government,” Kelly told the Times, adding later, “I think he’d love to be just like he was in business — he could tell people to do things and they would do it, and not bother too much about whether what the legalities were and whatnot.”
Kelly is not the first former top Trump administration official to cast the former president as a threat.
