Harris calls Trump ‘fascist’, as ex-chief of staff John Kelly claims former president praised Hitler

Concerns over future of democracy grow after former Trump chief of staff John Kelly claims Republican former president said 'Hitler did some good things'

US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Naval Observatory in Washington. AFP

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Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday issued a warning about her Republican opponent after Donald Trump's former chief of staff John Kelly claimed the former president was a fascist and that he had said Adolf Hitler did "some good things".

Ms Harris and President Joe Biden, along with Democrats and anti-Trump advocates, have portrayed Mr Trump as a threat to the US – pointing to the Project 2025 playbook, the January 6, 2021, insurrection and comments about being dictator "on day one" if elected.

“Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable, and in a second term, people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guardrails against … his actions,” Ms Harris said outside her vice presidential residence.

Mr Kelly, a former marine general, told The New York Times that Mr Trump “prefers the dictator approach to government” and favoured loyalty over any legal issues or the US Constitution.

“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," he said.

Mr Kelly claimed to the Times that the former US president had spoken positively about Adolf Hitler: “He commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too'.”

He said he had tried to talk Mr Trump out of his admiration.

The Atlantic reported on Monday that Mr Trump said “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had”, quoting two unidentified people who heard him say it.

“It is deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous that Donald Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler, the man who is responsible for the deaths of six million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Americans,” Ms Harris said.

There have been books and other reporting published that corroborates Mr Trump's praise for Hitler, yet his spokesman denied to The Atlantic that the comments were made.

“So the bottom line is this: We know what Donald Trump wants … he wants unchecked power,” Ms Harris said. “The question in 13 days will be, what do the American people want?”

Mr Kelly said that he felt compelled to speak out after Mr Trump's remarks about “the enemy within” and how he would use the military against domestic opponents, which he called “disturbing”.

“He wants a military who will be loyal to him, personally; one that will obey his orders even when he tells them to break the law or abandon their oath to the Constitution of the United States,” Ms Harris said of Mr Trump.

Republican New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, a Trump critic who has said he will still vote for him, on CNN condemned the Hitler comments but said the language was to be expected.

“Look, we've heard a lot of extreme things about Donald Trump … from Donald Trump, it's kind of par for the course,” he said. “It's really unfortunate with a guy like that. It's kind of baked into the vote at this point.”

Mr Sununu said he believed the Republican would win despite the comments: “Most of America is going to go this way. I do think Trump wins this thing in the end.”

National polling show that the US election remains close while early voting is taking place in many states ahead of election day on November 5.