Brennan: Support for Trump 'absurd,' 'appalling'

MSNBC senior national security analyst John Brennan questioned voters' support of former President Trump after retired Gen. John Kelly alleged that Trump praised Adolf Hitler's generals, confirming previous reports from Peter Baker and Susan Glasser. 

“We have seen this continuous pattern over the course of many years of Donald Trump endorsing individuals such as a Hitler, disparaging the U.S. military, advocating for fascism, which is what John Kelly said, that he is fascist,” Brennan said during his Wednesday morning appearance on the network.

“Just like Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said that Donald Trump is fascist to the core, it just demonstrates that Donald Trump is not interested in promoting our democratic system and our values as Americans,” he added.

Brennan condemned the former president’s followers and their affinity for the Republican nominee by calling them “absurd.” 

“I find it absurd and appalling that so many Americans are willing to just dismiss these comments,” Brennan said.

“And the undecided voters that are still out there, I think they really need to take this into account when you have individuals such as John Kelly and Mark Milley saying this about Donald Trump. Is this the country that you want your children and grandchildren to grow up in?” the commentator asked. “I certainly hope not.”

Trump campaign adviser Alex Pfeiffer dismissed the claims as false.

“This is absolutely false. President Trump never said this,” Pfeiffer said in a statement. 

Despite the Trump campaign’s denial of such statements, Brennan said he has “no doubt” Kelly’s claims are true.

Kelly, according to a book from CNN’s Jim Sciutto earlier this year, quoted Trump saying, “Hitler did some good things.”

Additional reports from The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg noted the former president stating he needed “the kind of generals that Hitler had” during a private conversation in the White House overheard by “two people.”

With less than 13 days until the November election, Trump is looking to refute recent accusations that he aspires to be a fascist and allegations about him using potential power to seek retribution after the 2024 election. 

His opponent, Vice President Harris, harped on Trump's comments during unscheduled remarks at her Naval Observatory residence in D.C.

"Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable, and in a second term people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guardrails against his propensities and his actions," Harris said. "Those who once tried to stop him from pursuing his worst impulses would no longer be there and no longer be there to reign him in."

"So the bottom line is this, we know what Donald Trump wants, he wants unchecked power. The question in 13 days will be what do the American people want."