As the campaign enters its final stretch with less than 10 days to go before Election Day, former President Donald Trump is facing new accusations that he praised Adolf Hitler.
But with early voting underway, his Republican supporters are rejecting the latest allegations.
More than 38 million people have already voted in the elections.
The first in-person voting began in Michigan on Saturday, as a steady stream of Trump supporters showed up to cast their ballots for the ex-president.
They dismissed the reported praise of Hitler as “nonsense” and condemned the former White House chief of staff, retired General John Kelly, who shared his story about it.
Voters wait in line for ballots cast in the 2024 election on the first day of early in-person voting in Michigan on Oct. 26
Kelly made the allegations in a recent interview with The New York Times.
The retired Marine Corps general said he had admonished Trump several times for admiring statements like “Hitler did good things too.”
Kelly made similar comments in a recent interview with The Atlantic.
Trump’s rival Vice President Kamala Harris seized on the messages calling Trump a fascist and warning that he would claim unchecked power if re-elected.
The ex-president has denied the allegations. And his supporters who turned out to vote on the battlefield either followed his lead or signaled that they didn’t care.
Former President Donald Trump with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly on October 18, 2024. In recent interviews, the retired Navy general said he had to admonish the ex-president for praising Hitler in conversations during his time in office
‘Of course he talked about Hitler in a positive light, but he talks about some of the things that are [Hitler’s] a POS, he did some good things for Germany before it went off the rails,” said Chris Bandelier, 57, of Kalamazoo.
“So I think that’s what he’s referring to when he talks about Hitler,” he said.
Bandelier’s priority in voting early for the ex-president was “trying to prevent the election from being stolen.”
John Vasquez, 42, also came out to vote for Trump on the first day of early voting.
“Trump’s position on Hitler is a joke,” he said. “Trump has done more for Israel than any other administration has done for Israel in how long? ‘He did everything for them. Why would he be Hitler and against them? I don’t feel like it.’
“Nonsense,” declared Dennis Bourdo. “I didn’t see any dictatorship or Nazi stuff when Trump was in power.”
He and his wife Christina said they think people have already made up their minds despite the recent Kelly interviews.
“He makes it clear in almost all his rallies that he loves America,” Christina Bourdo claimed. “I haven’t seen that in the last four years of him trying to gain control [America].’
She pointed out that Kelly, a retired four-star general, was fired by Trump and suggested that was why he made the claims.
Her main reason for voting early for Trump, she said, was because she aligns more with his beliefs and opposes abortion “until birth.”
The first in-person voting began in Michigan on October 26. A string of Trump supporters who showed up to cast their votes dismissed reports that Trump praised Hitler as they voted for the ex-president.
Matt Valkner, 49, said both candidates were negative and that he just wished they would “explicate things that are positive about their campaigns.”
He claimed his vote for Trump was to “make America great again and get more manufacturing in the US again.”
Manufacturing jobs had been growing in the US for six years before 2016, when Trump was first elected.
But the upward trajectory actually took a downturn during Trump’s first term, even before the pandemic hit in 2020.
While Trump supporters dismissed the reports of Hitler praise, Harris supporters who voted early were in disbelief that Republicans did not take the comments more seriously.
Zachary Willoughby, 25, cast his ballot on the first day of in-person voting for Harris.
He is expecting a girl and wants a president who doesn’t “boast about taking away reproductive rights and be held accountable for sexual abuse.”
He is expecting a girl and wants a president who doesn’t “boast about taking away reproductive rights and be held accountable for sexual abuse.”
“I want to say I’m shocked, but I’m not,” he said of Trump’s comments about Hitler.
“Praising autocrats and dictators is not something we should be doing in the United States,” he said.
“A lot of people don’t really pay attention to or really trust the news headlines that are coming out right now, and I think they should because that’s something that’s very concerning.”
Diane Rice, 63, who also voted for Harris, simply shook her head. She doesn’t understand that voting for Trump is even a choice.
