Trump Wanted American Generals To Be More Like 'Loyal' Nazis: Reports

An article released on Monday claims that former U.S. President Donald Trump wanted generals who were comparable to German Nazi generals in World War II in their loyalty to their leader, as Trump attempted to pitch the idea of a military parade in Washington, D.C.

During his presidency, Trump reportedly attempted to pitch his military advisors to mount a grand military parade in Washington, D.C. to his generals for the Fourth of July celebrations after seeing a similar parade in France when he attended Bastille Day, according to the New Yorker.

None of his generals or military advisors were warm to the idea of a military parade, saying that it would cost them millions of dollars and do damage to the streets of the nation’s capital. Many of them were outright opposed to the idea of a parade, with Air Force General Paul Selva saying, “It’s what dictators do.”

“I didn’t grow up in the United States, I actually grew up in Portugal,” Selva said to Trump. “Portugal was a dictatorship—and parades were about showing the people who had the guns. And in this country, we don’t do that. It’s not who we are.”

“I’d rather swallow acid [than do the parade],” Defense Secretary James Mattis reportedly said.

Due to this gulf of ideology between the nation’s generals and its military top brass, Trump reportedly disliked working with the generals, and at one point asked them why they couldn’t be more like the Nazi generals working under Adolf Hitler during World War II, the Daily Beast reported.

“You f*cking generals, why can’t you be like the German generals?” Trump reportedly said, before clarifying, “The German generals in World War II.”

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who was also a former U.S. Marine Corps General, attempted to teach Trump some history by saying that “You do know that they tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off?”

“No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him,” Trump replied.

The article also details some hardships during Trump’s term in finding a new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with Army chief of staff Mark Milley subsequently assuming the post due to how much he annoyed Defense Secretary Mattis, which Trump liked.

“[I only appointed Milley because Mattis] could not stand him, had no respect for him, and would not recommend him,” Trump said.