6 voormalige bondgenoten die zich tegen Trump hebben gekeerd

6 voormalige bondgenoten van Trump die zich nu tegen hem gekeerd hebben

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  John Kelly warned this week that Trump fits the definition of a fascist

  John Kelly, a former Marine general who served as Trump's chief of staff from 2017 to 2019, issued a stark warning against the former president in a series of interviews with The New York Times, published Tuesday.

  Kelly told the outlet that Trump fits the definition of a fascist and said that he would rule like a dictator if elected to a second term.

  "Well, looking at the definition of fascism: It's a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy," Kelly told the Times.

  "Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he's certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure," Kelly also said to the outlet.

  In his interviews with the Times, Kelly confirmed a previous report that Trump had, more than once, told Kelly he believes "Hitler did some good things."

  AP Photo/Evan Vucci

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  Elizabeth Neumann echoed Kelly's concerns

  Elizabeth Neumann, a former Trump-appointed senior official at the Department of Homeland Security, told Politico in a story published Wednesday that she agrees with Kelly's evaluation that Trump is not fit for office.

  She added that the former president has "authoritarian tendencies" and "does not operate by the rule of law."

  Neumann — who in April 2020 resigned from her role as an assistant secretary at the DHS —had also previously railed against Trump.

  The former DHS official told NPR in late 2020 that Trump was "throwing fuel on the fire" of domestic terrorism, and earlier said that Republicans' portrayal of peaceful protests as "lawless" was a distraction from the real threat of right-wing extremism. 

  Alex Wong / Getty Images

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  John Bolton reiterated his past critiques of Trump this week

  John Bolton served as Trump's national security advisor, pushing a hawkish strategy on threats from adversaries including Venezuela and Iran.

  He turned against Trump shortly after leaving office, and in his 2020 memoir he described chaos and dysfunction in the Trump administration.

  In 2022, Bolton told NBC News the one thing that would get him to enter the 2024 presidential race would "be to make it clear to the people of this country that Donald Trump is unacceptable as the Republican nominee."

  And in an interview this week on CNN's "The Source with Kaitlan Collins" Bolton reiterated his past comments that Trump is not smart enough to be a dictator.

  "To be a fascist, you have to have a philosophy. Trump's not capable of that," Bolton told Collins, echoing his statement earlier this year that Trump "hasn't got the brains" to be a dictator. 

  But, Bolton told CNN that he believes the Republican presidential nominee still poses "dangers" to the country. 

  Earlier this year, Bolton also cautioned that Trump's mounting debts could make him a prime target for foreign autocrats to exploit. 

   

  Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

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  Trump-appointed Mark Milley has called Trump "fascist to the core"

  In 2018, Trump appointed four-star general Mark Milley, the former chief of staff of the Army, as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in his administration — a role Milley served from 2019 to 2023. 

  When Milley retired from the position in 2023, after serving two years under Trump and two under Joe Biden, he delivered remarks that appeared to be a thinly-veiled jab at Trump. 

  "We don't take an oath to a king or a queen or to a tyrant or a dictator. And we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator," Milley said in his retirement speech, according to the Associated Press. 

  And in a new book from Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward, Milley calls Trump "fascist to the core" and "the most dangerous person to this country," The Washington Post reported earlier this month. 

   

  AP Photo/Susan Walsh

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  Former defense secretary Mark Esper has criticized the Trump's character and ability to lead

  Mark Esper served as defense secretary in the Trump administration from 2019 to 2020, and previously as the US secretary of the Army from 2017 to 2019. 

  In his 2022 book, "A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times," Esper wrote that Trump was an "idiosyncratic, unpredictable, and unprincipled commander in chief." He also characterized the former president as an erratic, petulant leader who posed a threat to Americans and the country at large. 

  More recently, Esper has cautioned about Trump's comments that he would invoke the military against his enemies. Esper told CNN's Kaitlan Collins this week that voters should take Trump's threats to use the military against American citizens "seriously."

  "I think President Trump has learned, the key is getting people around you who will do your bidding, who will not push back, who will implement what you want to do. And I think he's talked about that, his acolytes have talked about that, and I think loyalty will be the first litmus test," he said on CNN.

   

   

  Drew Angerer/Getty Images

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  Bill Barr, the attorney general who broke with Trump over his attempt to overturn the 2020 election

  Barr was regarded as one of Trump's closest allies and canniest officials during his stint as attorney general in 2019 and 2020.

  He played a key role in fending off legal scandals that embroiled Trump, notably the 2019 release of the special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

  In 2022, Barr changed course and published a memoir in which he was highly critical of his former boss and said he'd opposed Trump's bid to cling to power after his defeat in 2020.

  He also criticized Trump's decision to take government records with him to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office, and in a scathing New York Post op-ed article he called on the Republican Party to move on from Trump after the midterms.

  "Among the current crop of potential nominees, Trump is the person least able to unite the party and the one most likely to lose the general election," Barr wrote.

  But Barr has since reversed course again, telling CNN's Kaitlan Collins in April this year that he would be voting for Trump in the 2024 election.  

  Drew Angerer/Getty Images

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  Mike Pence, the ultraloyal vice president who grew steadily more vocal in his opposition to Trump

  Mike Pence, Trump's former vice president, played an important role in attracting the conservative evangelical voters who were a key part of Trump's support base.

  But his refusal to help Trump's bid to overturn his election defeat in 2020 provoked Trump's fury.

  Pence became a hated figure for hardline Trump supporters, some of whom chanted for his execution during the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when Pence was forced to flee alongside other members of Congress.

  Pence mostly declined to criticize Trump in the wake of the riot. 

  In a 2022 interview with ABC News, Pence described Trump's words and actions on January 6, 2021, as "reckless."

  "The president's words that day at the rally endangered me and my family and everyone at the Capitol," Pence told the outlet at the time. 

  Earlier this year, Pence said he would not be endorsing Trump for the presidency. And last month, he wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal reiterating his commitment to stay out of the presidential campaign, but urging voters to elect Republicans down-ballot. 

   

  PhoPhoto by Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images

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  Chris Christie, a former confidant, now says Trump is dragging the GOP down

  Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, was one of the first prominent Republicans to endorse Trump when he launched his insurgent bid for the presidency in 2015.

  But Christie was fired as the head of Trump's transition team after his 2016 victory, reportedly at the urging of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, whose father Christie had prosecuted.

  Christie has become a frequent critic of Trump on cable-news shows, and he described Trump as a serial loser in the wake of the 2022 midterms.

  More recently, Christie said in an interview with The New York Times earlier this month that he sees "significant" cognitive declines in Trump since 2016 and 2020. And he called out "not only Trump's willingness but seeming inability to avoid lying about everything" as "toxic to the political environment." 

   

  AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File

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  Stephanie Grisham, who resigned after the Capitol riot, says Trump lacks empathy and morals

  Stephanie Grisham served as White House press secretary under Trump and as a top aide to Melania Trump.

  She left the White House after the Capitol riot and revealed damaging behind-the-scenes information about Trump in her memoir in October 2021. She's now a frequent critic of Trump on cable TV.

  She has said she feels remorse at having worked for Trump, whom she's described as a "con man," and after the 2022 midterm elections, she told CNN that the GOP needs to distance itself from Trump.

  Grisham spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August this year, after announcing that she would be voting for Kamala Harris. 

  In her speech at the event, Grisham said that Trump lacks empathy, morals, and "fidelity to the truth."

   

  Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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  Former Trump aide Fiona Hill has criticized Trump's denial of the 2020 election results

  Fiona Hill served as Trump's deputy assistant and the top Russia advisor on the National Security Council in his administration from 2017 to 2019. 

  In a 2022 interview with Business Insider, Hill argued that Trump's election lies have created a "recipe for communal violence" that could foster "civil conflict" in the US. 

  And earlier this year, Hill criticized Trump for comparing himself to Alexei Navalny, the late Russian opposition leader and political dissident. 

  "What he's doing in the most brazen and frankly shameful fashion is trying to suggest that the United States is like Putin's Russia," Hill told Margaret Brennan on CBS's "Face the Nation" at the time.  

   

  Drew Angerer/Getty Images