Former President Donald Trump's allies were subjected to a stern and public rebuke from a Republican news analyst who argued their defense of his reported praise for powerful Nazis was sycophantic at best, dangerous at worst.
The Bulwark's Sarah Longwell took to X on Wednesday to issue a rebuke to Trumpworld supporters dismissing former chief of staff John Kelly's on-the-record comment that the former president's demanded he act more like Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's generals.
"When a former Trump official comes out with a story demonstrating Trump’s unfitness for office, nihilistic Trump defenders leap into action, questioning the motives, context, or credibility of the individual making the claim," Longwell wrote.
"They want you to forget the cumulative weight of the accusations against Trump coming from a raft of his own former employees."
Longwell sought to rectify the situation with a lengthy thread of former Trump associates who have since called him a threat to American democracy.
She quotes eight men directly as they deliver one common message:
“The American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution," said former Vice President Mike Pence. "Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”
“His use of the Presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice," said Jim Mattis, the Marine general who resigned as secretary of defense in December 2018.
“I think he’s unfit for office," said another former secretary of defense, Mark Esper. "He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country. And then, of course, I believe he has integrity and character issues as well.”
“Fascist to the core” said former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. “The most dangerous person to this country.”
"This will be a retribution presidency," said John Bolton, former National Security Advisor. "And it will not be just against extreme left wingers, it will be against people who are Republicans and conservatives who stood against Trump."
“Someone who engaged in that kind of bullying about a process that is fundamental to our system and to our self-government shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval Office," said former Attorney General Bill Barr.
“The President undermined American democracy baselessly for months," former Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert. "As a result, he’s culpable for this siege, and an utter disgrace.”
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“He has never cared about America, its citizens, its future or anything but himself," said Trump’s White House lawyer Ty Cobb. "In fact, as history well shows from his divisive lies, as well as from his unrestrained contempt for the rule of law and his related crimes, his conduct and mere existence have hastened the demise of democracy and of the nation.”
Longwell's thread concludes with a dark message — that she has more quotes she could share — and rhetorical questions for Trump allies.
"Are they all lying?" Longwell asked. "Are we supposed to be skeptical that Trump called soldiers 'suckers' and 'losers' when he said as much out loud about John McCain?"
Trump during a 2015 rally called McCain a "loser" and said that he preferred people who were not captured.
"Are we supposed to be skeptical that Trump praised Hitlers generals when he dined with white supremacist Nick Fuentes and calls people 'vermin' and talks about immigrants 'poisoning the blood' of America?" Longwell asked.
Trump hosted Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago in 2022, called political rivals "vermin" in a Veteran's Day post in 2023, and claimed immigrants were "poisoning the blood of our country" during a rally in March.
"Trump is dangerous and unfit and all the responsible people who served in his last term have told us as much," Longwell concluded.
"The dead-eyed Trump sycophants like [Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)] or [Republican strategist Scott Jennings] who gaslight Americans about Trump in the face of a mountain of evidence should be dismissed."
