What Trump thinks is the ‘biggest mistake’ of his presidency actually echoes John Kelly’s warnings

“Well, it probably would have been if the media didn’t attack you the way they did, if they didn’t conflate you with Hitler.” Joe Rogan told Donald Trump on episode 2219 of his podcast, offering an explanation as to why the former President is not more loved by the people he seeks to govern once again.

Were it only the media “conflating” the Republican nominee with the Nazi dictator perhaps the podcaster would have more of a point. However, on the same day that the interview on the Joe Rogan Experience was released, 13 former Trump administration members signed an open letter backing statements made by John F. Kelly, congratulating “General Kelly for highlighting in stark details the danger of a second Trump term.”

During the podcast, Trump employed his favorite go-to tactic of “it’s not me, it’s you,” trying to denigrate Kelly’s image while, in the same breath and unintentionally, reinforcing the retired Marine Corps general’s foreboding words.

It’s so blatant yet some still don’t see it

Donald Trump’s former chief of staff said, without mincing any words, that the Republican candidate and his ideology fall into “the definition of fascism.” John Kelly’s warning resounded so loudly that even Vice President Kamala Harris publicly reacted, bringing up Trump’s concerning comments about “the enemy from within”: “Let’s be clear about who he considers to be the ‘enemy from within.’ Anyone who refuses to bend a knee or dares to criticize him would qualify in his mind as the enemy within.”

A little over the 20-minute mark in a 3-hour-long interview, Trump told Rogan: “I will say it always come back to the same answer: the biggest mistake I made is that – I picked some great people, but you don’t think about that – I picked some people that I shouldn’t have picked.” Rogan then asked whether Trump was referring to “neocons,” to which he replied, “Yeah neocons, or bad people, or disloyal people.”

In a moment of sheer irony with an added dose of hypocrisy, Trump went on to talk about Kelly and call the General a “bully,” which is, frankly, the pot calling the kettle black. As shown above, Trump took to Truth Social in the aftermath of Kelly’s remarks surfacing and called the military veteran everything from a “LOWLIFE,” to “a bad General,” to a “STONE COLD LOSER.”

One commenter wrote under an ABC News report of Kamala Harris responding to General Kelly’s warnings: “Trump moved the Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Don’t think Hitler would do that.” This gravely ignores the bigger picture: Trump acts like a cult leader who wants the benefits of an authoritarian regime, who believes in free speech as long as that free speech is not critical of him, who uses fearmongering and othering strategies to win support, who sees anyone as not being with him as being against him, and those against him as a “threat.”

The open letter from the 13 former Trump officials ends with the following paragraph:

“In a second term, those who once tried to prevent Donald Trump from his worst impulses will no longer be there to rein him in. For the good of our country, our democracy, and our Constitution, we are asking you to listen closely and carefully to General Kelly’s warning. We unfortunately know all too well how serious and dire it is.”

If one doesn’t want to take any liberal’s or Left-wing politician’s word for it, what makes one also ignore the people who were closest to the wannabe authoritarian during his presidency, many of whom remain loyal Republicans, and are now outspoken about the danger he poses to the sanctity and integrity of American democracy? Are confirmation bias and the halo effect so reinforced in MAGA individuals’ cognition that Trump’s words are the gospel and everyone else’s, especially dissidents, are nothing but background noise? Here’s some food for thought as time runs short and Nov. 5 looms ever closer.