GOP Bucket Dodges a Simple Question About Trump, Hitler's Generals

Retired General Mark Milley helped get the ball rolling. The public learned two weeks ago that the man Donald Trump had recently appointed as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff stated on the record that he now believes the Republican candidate is “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person for this country.”

A week later it was retired Gen. John Kelly, who served as Trump’s chief of staff in the White House. also said that Trump meets the “definition of ‘fascist’.” This was quickly followed by similar comments from Mark Esper, Trump’s former Secretary of Defense, who gave in “It’s hard to say” that Trump hasn’t earned the label “fascist.”

Apparently much of the American public is thinking along the same lines: the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 49% of the country considers the former Republican president a fascist.

CNN’s Kate Bolduan asked House Majority Whip Tom Emmer for his reaction to the survey data, and the Minnesota Republican replied that his party’s candidate “is going to win this election.” That could very well be true, although it wasn’t really an answer to a question about a large portion of the public concluding that Trump is actually a fascist.

The interview went ahead nonetheless, and the host asked the Republican congressman about allegations — made by members of Trump’s own team — that the former president offered private praise for Adolf Hitler’s generals during his term in the White House. Is Emmer comfortable with such rhetoric? He refused to answer and dismissed the question as irrelevant.

And so Bolduan tried again. NBC News reports this:

Bolduan asked at one point, “Are you personally okay with Donald Trump saying he wants his generals to be like Hitler’s generals?” After a pause, Emmer said in part, “Americans don’t want to talk about that.”

It was hard to watch.

The strange thing is that the Republican leader of the House of Representatives could have given a rather obvious answer. “It’s clear that no one in American politics should have anything positive to say about Hitler or his generals, but I don’t believe the recent reporting, and Trump has denied the claims.”

See how easy this is?

But the majority in the House of Representatives, afraid of its own shadow, did not even want to go that far.

Recent history is a relevant part of the story: Most Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election, but Emmer did the right thing and side of democracy.

To say the least, Trump harbored grudges — and derailed Emmer’s bid for Speaker of the House of Representatives Exactly one year ago this week.

The Republican from Minnesota went to humiliating lengths to claw his way back into the former president’s good graces, leaving behind any sense of pride, and his efforts ultimately paid off.

After Emmer embarrassed himself with over-the-top sycophancy, Trump reportedly boasted privatelyreferring to the congressman: “They always bend the knee.”

A year later, as Emmer’s pathetic display on CNN showed, not enough has changed.