WASHINGTON — A Republican House representative burst into laughter Tuesday when a Raw Story reporter asked him to comment on former President Donald Trump's remarks praising autocrats that included Adolf Hitler.
"You guys still paying attention to what Trump says?" Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) said with a giggle. "Oh my God ... journalists never learn."
Harris, a Freedom Caucus member whose ties to Trump include attendance at a meeting in 2020 to discuss keeping the former president in the White House, admitted that he does not listen to the words that come out of the leading Republican presidential candidate's mouth.
"You guys don't listen to Trump?" Raw Story asked.
"No, of course not!" Harris said. "You look at what he does, not what he says."
Harris' assertion comes as the release of a new book — "The Return of Great Powers" by CNN's John Sciutto — details warnings from former Trump advisers over their onetime boss' admiration for autocrats.
“He likes dealing with other big guys, and big guys like Erdogan in Turkey get to put people in jail and you don’t have to ask anybody’s permission,” John Bolton, who served as national security adviser under Trump, told Sciutto. "He kind of likes that.”
Retired Marines General John Kelly told Sciutto he convinced Trump to stop praising the Nazi leader who masterminded the Holocaust by arguing Italian's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was "a great guy in comparison.”
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"Hitler did some good things," Trump said, according to Kelly. "[Hitler] rebuilt the economy."
This prompted Kelly to note what Hitler did with that thriving economy: "He turned it against his own people and against the world.
"I said, ‘Sir, you can never say anything good about the guy. Nothing.'"
News of this exchange came as a surprise to Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who told Raw Story he "didn't know anything about" Trump's professed admiration for strong men leaders and added, "That's crazy."
Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) came to Trump's defense, telling Raw Story he believed Trump's praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin was simply respect for an intelligent adversary.
"Somebody could be dastardly ... but they could still be smart," Meuser said. But he added, "I'm not going to get into Hitler."
Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) echoed Meuser's adversary argument and accused Kelly of stirring up a fuss because he did not have a war to fight.
"All these old generals, retire, go home, enough is enough," Nehls said. "Oh come on. Praising Hitler? They take that all out of context."
