John Kelly warns about his former boss Trump in media interviews: NPR

Former White House chief of staff John Kelly, seen here during a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial in Belleau in 2018, has criticized his former boss Donald Trump.

Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP via Getty Images

Hide caption

Toggle label

Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP via Getty Images

Donald Trump's former chief of staff criticized the former president this week, calling Trump's leadership style “dictatorial,” “fascist” and lacking empathy.

John Kelly is one of several Trump-era White House officials to publicly criticize their former boss and argue that Trump is unfit to take the job again.

“Certainly the former president is on the far right, he's certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators – that's what he said,” Kelly said in an interview with The New York Times. “So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist.”

Kelly also accused Trump of being critical of those injured, injured or killed during his military service.

In response to Kelly's comments, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told NPR that Kelly had “made a clown of himself” and was “currently suffering from a debilitating case of Trump Deangement Syndrome.”

“President Trump has always honored the service and sacrifices of all of our military,” Cheung added.

Trump's Democratic opponent, Vice President Harris, has sought to capitalize on the multitude of former officials now opposing Trump by hosting events with them and urging moderate Republicans to vote for her instead.

In a town hall with Univision, Trump said this only a “small number” of his former officials have publicly stated that they will not support him.

They are Trump's former Defense Secretary Mark Esper – whom Trump fired – National Security Adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence among those who were critical of Trump's leadership since leaving office.

Accordingly The New York TimesRecent Trump comments about using the military against the “enemy within” prompted Kelly to speak out.

The Atlantic also cited the reporting that his chief of staff, Kelly, repeatedly corrected Trump regarding his understanding of Hitler's military rule in Germany as a comparison for the administration of the U.S. military.