More “lifelong Republican” former Trump aides denigrate the ex-president in a letter | US elections 2024

A new group of “lifelong Republican” former advisers to Donald Trump joined the chorus of criticism of the Republican nominee's character and suitability for the White House on Friday, speaking out in support of John Kelly, who earlier this week called his old boss a fascist.

“The revelations made by General Kelly are disturbing and shocking. “But unfortunately, because we know Trump and have worked for and alongside him, we were not surprised by what General Kelly had to say,” said a letter from more than a dozen staffers who worked in Trump’s administration, as Politico first reported.

Among the letter's signatories is Kevin Carroll, a former senior adviser to Kelly, the former military general who was Trump's longest-serving chief of staff during the Republican's one-term presidency.

Other signatories to the letter include former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews, former deputy homeland security secretary Elizabeth Neumann, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor, it emerged , that he was the author of the book Anonymous, which warned relatively early in his chaotic term in office about the dangers of Trump's wild and undemocratic behavior.

Other signatories include former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, then-Vice President Mike Pence's former press secretary Alyssa Farah Griffin and then-Vice President Olivia Troye's former national security adviser.

The letter follows an interview in which Kelly told the New York Times that Trump fit the description of a fascist. This came shortly after Atlantic magazine published an article detailing reports from former Trump advisers in which the then-president had expressed a desire for “the kind of generals Hitler had.” The article also quoted Kelly describing Trump's consistent pattern of demeaning military members. The Trump campaign has denied these reports.

It also follows dire warnings about Trump's extremism, unpredictability and disregard for the US Constitution from people ranging from General Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and former Trump defense secretaries James Mattis and Mark Esper to ex-national security adviser John Bolton , former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Trump's own Vice President Mike Pence.

The letter released to Politico continued: “We applaud General Kelly for clearly highlighting the danger of a second Trump term.” Like General Kelly, we did not make the decision to come forward lightly. We are all lifelong Republicans who have served our country. However, there are moments in history when it becomes necessary to put country over party. This is one of those moments. Everyone should heed General Kelly’s warning.”