A journalist from the Wall Street Journal reported in a book to be released on July 13 that former U.S. President Donald Trump said during an official visit to France in 2018 that Adolf Hitler "did many good things." This quote, which Trump denied saying, allegedly came from the former president during his visit to Europe to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War I, according to excerpts from the book published on Wednesday.
In his book titled "Honestly, We Won This Election," American journalist Michael Bender asserts that Trump made this positive remark about Hitler during an "impromptu history lesson" given to Trump at that time by the then White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. According to the book, Kelly, a former general in the U.S. Marine Corps, was "reminding the president which side each country was on during the conflict" and explaining how "World War I led to World War II, as well as all the atrocities committed by Hitler."
The book states that Kelly, who was "stunned" by Trump’s comments about the Führer, told the president he was wrong, but Trump maintained his stance, defending Hitler by discussing the economic revival Germany experienced under the Nazi Party in the 1930s. According to the journalist who reported this information, citing unnamed sources, the White House Chief of Staff responded to Trump by saying, "You cannot speak positively about Adolf Hitler. At all."
In his book, Bender claims that Trump has a "terrible ignorance of history," especially concerning chapters related to slavery and racial segregation in the United States.
Trump sparked controversy during his 2018 visit to France when he canceled a planned visit to the American cemetery at Belleau Wood, which is located about 100 kilometers northeast of Paris and contains the remains of American soldiers who died during World War I. At the time, Trump justified his decision not to visit the cemetery by saying that the weather conditions were not safe for traveling there by helicopter as planned. However, The Atlantic reported at the time that Trump canceled the visit because he saw no benefit in it. The magazine quoted unnamed sources in September 2020 saying that the former president said, "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's full of losers."
According to the same source, Trump referred to the 1,541 American soldiers who were killed in that battle by German forces as "suckers" before asking, "Who were the good guys in that war?" The White House strongly denied what The Atlantic reported.
