I believe in retired General John Kelly more than Trump

In a somewhat sane political universe, retired Gen. John Kelly's “October Shock” would upend the presidential race.

Kelly, former President Donald Trump's longest-serving White House chief of staff, spent several hours with a New York Times reporter warning the American people that the man who may become our next president meets the definition of a fascist and will rule like a dictator if given the chance. In the resulting article, Kelly describes his former boss as someone who has no understanding of the Constitution and no respect for the rule of law.

“Certainly the former president is on the far right, he is certainly an authoritarian and admires people who are dictators,” Kelly told the Times. “He definitely falls under the general definition of fascist.”

As if that wasn't enough, Kelly says Trump told him that “Hitler did some good things” and that he wished America's generals were more like the Fuhrer's. We also get new details about the depth of Trump's contempt for the men and women who serve in the military, especially those who are wounded, killed or captured.

(Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung dismissed Kelly's claims in a statement, arguing that Kelly had “completely exposed himself” by telling “debunked stories” about the Trump administration.)

Of course, it would have been better if this had come to light earlier and more insiders from Trump's environment had spoken out. But let's not overlook how amazing – and frightening – all of this is, and what the American people are being told in the final two weeks of this campaign. All alarms flash. All warnings are loud. And they don't just come from Democrats or those of us who have never been Trump since the moment he descended his golden escalator.

This warning comes from Trump's former chief of staff and comes just a week after former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley called Trump “completely fascist” and “the most dangerous person ever.” Trump's former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis – another general – supported Milley's warning.

Kelly's interview comes after Trump's former vice president Mike Pence refused to endorse him and after another former defense secretary, Mark Esper, said Trump was a threat to democracy.

It's all breathtaking – or it would be if we hadn't all become jaded over the last nine years.

I call this an October shockinstead of a Surprisebecause Trump's affinity for strongmen and brutality was a feature of his politics from the beginning and his rhetoric was increasingly saturated with Reich rhetoric. He describes migrants as “vermin” who “poison the blood of the country.” He has openly dreamed of using the military against his fellow Americans, some of whom he calls “the enemy within.”

In the early days of his first campaign, Trump mocked Sen. John McCain's status as a prisoner of war, saying, “I like people who haven't been taken prisoner.” He called injured or killed service members “losers and fools.” According to The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, Trump also told senior aides “that he doesn't understand why the U.S. government puts so much emphasis on finding missing soldiers.” To him, they could be left behind because of poor performance by being captured had.”

Most worrying, however, is Trump's hunger for power.

Kelly served with Trump in the Oval Office for nearly a year and a half. What he saw was a man who was angered by the limits of his power and “didn’t care too much about what the legalities were and weren’t.”

Kelly describes a man who lacks a basic understanding of the fundamentals of this democracy. “He is certainly the only president who has embraced what America is about and what makes America America, in terms of our Constitution, in terms of our values, in terms of the way we look at everything Family and government, he has all but rejected — he is “certainly the only president I know, certainly in my life, who has been like that,” Kelly told the Times.

This should be disqualifying. The Is disqualifying.

But will any of this make a difference? Does Kelly's warning come too late to stop America's sleepwalk toward authoritarianism? My honest answer is: I don't know. I'd like to think there's a chance.

Democratic pollster Blueprint has found that the best-performing closing argument against Trump is one that highlights opposition from his former Cabinet and fellow Republicans. When voters were old, the needle moved significantly: “Nearly half of Donald Trump’s Cabinet has refused to support him.”

So with less than two weeks to go, the Harris campaign has just been presented with what appears to be an effective closing argument. Put it on TV. Cover the airwaves. Break through the information silos.

If Americans hear what Kelly, Mattis and Milley say, they might still vote for Trump. But they can't say they weren't warned.