by Nick Gier
The next election won’t be decided at a Ballot Box.
It’ll be decided at the ammo box.
—American Patriots Three Percent
I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.
—Donald J. Trump
In 2018 Donald Trump appointed Gen. Mark Milley as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In Bob Woodward’s new book War Milley told him: “Trump is a total fascist. He is now the most dangerous person to this country.” In an interview on October 22, Gen. John Kelly said that Trump fits “the general definition of fascism.”
Milley fears that if Trump becomes president again, he will court-martial him and other military leaders who have crossed him. In a September 2023 Truth Social post Trump threatened Milley with execution for treason. The triggering event was a phone call that Milley had made to his Chinese counterpart, one that had been authorized by Trump administration officials.
“Enemy from Within”
Trump has declared that “the enemy from within is more dangerous than China, Russia and all these countries.” (He boasted that he could easily “take care of them.”) Trump said that “we have some very bad people. . . radical left lunatics. They should be very easily handled by the military.”
Trump specified two targets in particular: former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and soon-to-be California Sen. Adam Schiff whom he described as “a sleazebag” and “major lowlife.” As always, Trump is filled with hatred for his perceived enemies.
Fascism vs. Communism
Fascism and communism were the two greatest totalitarian political movements of the 20th Century. The main difference is that fascist leaders sought support from corporate interests while the communists eliminated, with devastating consequences, private business. The threats are the same from both: no free press, no democracy, and general political, cultural, and personal oppression.
Trump continues to praise the dictators of the world: they are “at the top of their game, they’re tough, they’re smart, they’re vicious, and they’re going to protect their country.” He idolizes Chinese Communist President Xi Jinping, saying that he is “brilliant” and “controls his people ruthlessly.”
Hitler “Did Good Things”
When Gen. John Kelly heard Trump say that Hitler “did some good things,” Kelly, incredulously asked, “well, what”? Trump answered that Hitler had “rebuilt the economy.” Kelly was shocked that he said nothing about the Holocaust.
Trump admired North Korea’s Kim Jung Un because his people gave him unconditional allegiance, and he commended Hitler who got total loyalty from his generals. In a private conversation in the White House, Trump told two individuals: “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.”
Trump wants Total Loyalty
When Gen. John Kelly once reminded that Nazis generals (including Erwin Rommel the most famous) tried to assassinate Hitler three times, but Trump responded, ignorantly, that was not true. Kelly was distressed to hear Trump demand that total loyalty was what he wanted from his military officers.
Some critics are disputing Kelly’s remarks, but John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, asserted that “you can take what John says to the bank.” However, Bolton declined to call Trump a fascist, because he is “too lazy and dumb to wrap his head around political philosophy.”
Military officers under Trump in a second term might have serious concerns given, as the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg asserts, Trump’s “denigration of military service, his ignorance of the provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, his admiration for brutality and anti-democratic norms of behavior, and his contempt for wounded veterans and for soldiers who fell in battle.”
Gen. Milley: No “Wannabe Dictator”
In his retirement speech Gen. Milley declared: “We don’t take an oath to a king, or to a tyrant or dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
Both Hitler and Trump promised that, if they won, as Trump told evangelical Christians recently, “you won’t have to vote again” because “everything will be fixed.” When, on January 30, 1933, German President Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor, he moved, spreading terror with his stormtroopers, to eliminate communists, labor leaders, and all other internal enemies.
Militias Ready to Act
Although we have now learned that “trucks of militia units were out hunting FEMA personnel” turned out to be one armed individual who was arrested, there are dozens of militias (some concentrated here in Northern Idaho) that are ready to act in defense of Trump. Antifa, the only left-wing group of which I’m aware, has virtually disappeared from the political scene.
In July 2024, according to the Counter Terrorism Group, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon “claimed there was a Maga army that would persist until Trump regained the presidency. Three Percenter militia members have reiterated that they would be willing to use violence against voting centers to support Trump.
Trump Seeks Total Control
Dictators seek total control—hence the term totalitarianism. It means eliminating the separation of powers doctrine and the complete takeover of the military, the economy, and the government. At the end of his administration Trump attempted to remove employment protections for the government’s civil servants.
Trump’s executive order for this action was rescinded by incoming President Biden, but the goal was that these non-partisan, well trained professionals would be replaced by Trump loyalists. One commentator argued that it would undermine a system that “has existed for more than a century and severely impair the integrity and effectiveness of the federal government, with grave consequences.”
In an interview with Politico vice-presidential candidate J. D. Vance suggested that “if the president says, ‘I get to control the staff of my own government,’ and the Supreme Court steps in and says, ‘You’re not allowed to do that,’” Vance proposes that Trump simply ignore the ruling.
The supreme irony is that Trump would not be an effective dictator. First, he is not smart enough and he is in obvious mental decline; and second, as Gen. Kelly has said: “He’s not a tough guy by any means, but in fact quite the opposite.” He has been easily manipulated, especially by Russian dictator Vladmir Putin. As president he would be a pawn for the dictators of the world.
Nick Gier of Moscow taught philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years. Email him at ngier006∂gmail.com.