Republicans’ grasp of history is exceptionally selective: slaves weren’t oppressed; they were given food, shelter and schooling for an honest day’s work, they say. The South fought for states’ rights, not to preserve slavery, even though every Confederate state’s article of secession referred to the potential loss of the institution of slavery under Abraham Lincoln. And women? Heck, all of their rights are intact and always have been.
So it’s no surprise that Donald Trump once told his second White House Chief of Staff, former four-star Marine General John Kelly, that he wished he had the same loyalty from his military commanders that German folk hero (according to MAGAts) Adolf Hitler enjoyed. According to The New Yorker:
The President’s loud complaint to John Kelly one day was typical: “You fucking generals, why can’t you be like the German generals?”
“Which generals?” Kelly asked.
“The German generals in World War II,” Trump responded.
“You do know that they tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off?” Kelly said.
But, of course, Trump did not know that. “No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him,” the President replied.
The actual number of times military officers tried to assassinate Hitler was much higher, but only three of those attempts were linked to officers at the rank of general or higher.