Opinion: Fox host defends Trump's praise of Hitler's generals. Maybe they weren't Nazis?

Republicans and conservative commentators spent Wednesday responding to shocking revelations by The Atlantic that Donald Trump, while president, said he needed “the kind of generals that Hitler had” by basically saying: OK, so what?

On Fox News, host Brian Kilmeade spun the news – confirmed by John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general and Trump’s former chief of staff – in spectacularly dopey fashion:

“I can absolutely see him go, ‘You know what? It'd be great to have German generals that actually do what we ask them to do,’ maybe not fully being cognizant of the third rail of German generals who were Nazis or whatever.”

What? All of Adolf Hitler’s generals were Nazis, you schmuck. This is not a thing you can shrug your shoulders at and say, “Well, you know, Trump was just mad and trying to make a point.”

How can anyone defend Trump's apparent Nazi-envious comments?

Something tells me Kilmeade would react a bit differently if we learned Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris once said she needed “the kind of Marxist guerrillas Che Guevara had.”

But this is Trump, so what’s a bit of Nazi-envy, I suppose. Kelly, in interviews with The New York Times and The Atlantic, said Trump also regularly demeaned military veterans and claimed Hitler “did some good things.”

'You need to look in the mirror and realize your dishonor will live forever'

It's notable that Kilmeade didn’t dispute whether Trump made these comments. That makes sense, given the source. Kelly is an honorable patriot with absolutely nothing to gain from sharing this story. If anything, he’s putting himself in a position to be the first to get locked up if the former president wins reelection.

Trump, on the other hand, is a lying convicted felon who nobody in their right mind should trust.

Former Rep. Liz Cheney – a true conservative – posted on social media Wednesday: “If your response to Gen John Kelly, gold star father & Trump’s WH chief of staff, confirming that Trump praised Hitler & called members of our military ‘suckers and losers’ is to defend Trump, you need to look in the mirror and realize your dishonor will live forever.”

Indeed.

GOP governor says Trump's extremism is 'baked into the vote'

Not to be outdone by Kilmeade in the lickspittle department, Chris Sununu, the Republican governor of New Hampshire, went on CNN and tried to soft-pedal Trump’s Nazi-admiring comments.

“I respect Gen. Kelly, I think he’s great, he’s got a long-term relationship with the president. When you get into these final weeks, it’s all about results, so of course you’re going to get salacious things said, and I’m not taking away the general’s conversation with the former president,” Sununu said.

Opinion: Voting for Trump or Harris means you totally support who they are. Accept it.

The governor then completely took away the general’s conversation with the former president, treating it as no big whoop and saying: “We’ve heard a lot of extreme things about Donald Trump, from Donald Trump. It’s kind of par for the course. Unfortunately, with a guy like that it’s kind of baked into the vote at this point.”

How in the hell are “Hitler did some good things” and “I wish I had generals like Hitler’s” just things that are baked in? Is Sununu’s view really: “So the guy likes Hitler, whaddya gonna do? Vote for a lib?”

Shrugging off a wish for Hitler's generals is not OK ? ever

We’ve heard a lot lately about people “sanewashing” Trump’s rambling, incoherent babbling to make it sound normal. But to hear people like Sununu and Kilmeade take Trump’s reported views and Nazi-shrug them is a whole other ballgame.

Opinion: Trump's MAGA base might want to brace themselves – Harris could win

Right-wing squeaker Ben Shapiro posted on social media that Kelly’s comments – which came on the heels of retired Gen. Mark Milley saying in a book that Trump is “fascist to the core” – were “the Left-wing media's latest oppo dump” and that nobody should care about them.

He wrote that “people care about the quality of their lives.”

All right, buddy, I’d argue the quality of people’s lives might drop a bit if we elect someone who has these kind of unhinged authoritarian beliefs. But also, soldiers like Kelly and Milley are about as far from left wing as they get, and this wasn’t an “oppo dump,” it’s words coming from the mouths of two distinguished American figures.

There is a candidate who hasn't suggested Hitler did any good things

I will never understand how so many people have debased themselves to defend a man like Trump. But defenses don’t matter much when someone spouts the indefensible.

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As Cheney said, Kilmeade and Sununu and Shapiro and whichever other toadies out there are standing by their man can enjoy the dishonor they’ll tote for the rest of eternity.

I’m going to stick with the more broadly accepted view that all Nazis were bad, fascism sucks and veterans deserve our respect and admiration.

And I’m sure as hell not voting for someone who thinks otherwise.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Kelly's revelation on Trump's Nazi envy leaves GOP shrugging