Former President Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff has warned Trump meets the definition of a fascist. Retired Marine General John Kelly made the remarks in an on-the-record interview with The New York Times.

John Kelly: “Well, looking at the definition of 'fascism,' it’s a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy. So, certainly, in my experience, those are the kind of things that he thinks would work better in terms of running America.”

Kelly said Trump’s recent comments about employing the military against domestic opponents had left him “deeply bothered.” He recounted that Trump said on several occasions, “Hitler did some good things, too.” Separately, The Atlantic reports Trump said during a private meeting at the White House, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.” Trump also reportedly referred to 20-year-old U.S. Army soldier Vanessa Guillén, whose 2020 murder at Fort Hood in Texas brought global attention to the epidemic of sexual violence in the U.S. military, as an “f—ing Mexican” — though Trump used the expletive. Trump reportedly ordered his then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows not to pay for Guillén’s funeral.