CNN
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John Kelly, the retired Marine general who was Donald Trump's White House chief of staff, told the New York Times that the former president “fits the general definition of fascist” and “certainly prefers the administration's dictatorial approach.”

The newspaper reported Tuesday that Kelly was asked in a recorded interview whether the former president met the definition of a fascist and responded by reading a definition he found online.

“Well, when I look at the definition of fascism: It is a far-right authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, violent suppression of opposition, and belief in a natural social hierarchy Kelly said. “In my experience, those are certainly the things that he believes would work better in terms of running America.”

Kelly continued: “The former president is certainly on the far right, he's definitely an authoritarian and admires people who are dictators – that's what he said. “So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist.”

The comments from a senior Trump White House official come two weeks before Election Day, as Trump faces Vice President Kamala Harris, who is seeking to return to the Oval Office four years after losing an election that he falsely claimed was rife with fraud .

Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement that Kelly had “completely embarrassed himself with these debunked stories he made up because he did not serve his president well during his tenure as chief of staff and is currently suffering from a debilitating one.” Case of Trump Deangement Syndrome suffers.” ”

Kelly and other former Trump aides have repeatedly warned about how Trump views the presidency and how he would wield his power if he returns to office.

Kelly told the Times that Trump “never accepted the fact that he wasn't the most powerful man in the world — and by power I mean the ability to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.”

“I think he would like to be like he did in business – he could tell people to do things and they would do them and he wouldn't worry too much about the legalities and so on,” he said.

He also said Trump doesn't understand the Constitution or the values ​​on which the nation was built and that it is “a new concept for him” that the loyalty of senior government officials is to the Constitution and not to the president personally.

Kelly pointed to Trump's comments at rallies and in interviews in recent weeks in which he warned of the “enemy within” and raised the prospect of using the military against political opponents.

“Even if you say it for political reasons, to get elected, I think it’s a very, very bad thing to do, let alone actually do it,” Kelly said.

Kelly also told the newspaper that Trump had at times spoken positively about Adolf Hitler.

“He said more than once, 'You know, Hitler did some good things too,'” Kelly said.