Newsmax host casts doubt on Atlantic reporting on disgraceful Trump comments: “We all remember the suckers and losers and how ridiculous that one was”

The same Atlantic story that Newsmax host Rob Schmitt is complaining about quotes former Trump chief of staff John Kelly on the record about Trump's suckers and losers remarks

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

John Kelly spoke to The Atlantic on the record about former President Donald Trump (emphasis in the original):

This week, I asked Kelly about their exchange. He told me that when Trump raised the subject of “German generals,” Kelly responded by asking, “‘Do you mean Bismarck’s generals?’” He went on: “I mean, I knew he didn’t know who Bismarck was, or about the Franco-Prussian War. I said, ‘Do you mean the kaiser’s generals? Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals? And he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.’ I explained to him that Rommel had to commit suicide after taking part in a plot against Hitler.” Kelly told me Trump was not acquainted with Rommel.

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Kelly—a retired Marine general who, as a young man, had volunteered to serve in Vietnam despite actually suffering from bone spurs—said in an interview for the CNN reporter Jim Sciutto’s book, The Return of Great Powers, that Trump praised aspects of Hitler’s leadership. “He said, ‘Well, but Hitler did some good things,’” Kelly recalled. “I said, ‘Well, what?’ And he said, ‘Well, (Hitler) rebuilt the economy.’ But what did he do with that rebuilt economy? He turned it against his own people and against the world.” Kelly admonished Trump: “I said, ‘Sir, you can never say anything good about the guy. Nothing.’”

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When we spoke this week, Kelly told me, “President Trump used the terms suckers and losers to describe soldiers who gave their lives in the defense of our country. There are many, many people who have heard him say these things. The visit to France wasn’t the first time he said this.”

The “suckers and losers” reporting has been confirmed independently by other outlets, including Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin.

From the October 22, 2024, edition of Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight

ROB SCHMITT: (HOST): I want to just read to you what may indeed be one of the October surprises in this election, which is a piece from The Atlantic that has just come out -- just come out today and is really just starting to explode on X as we speak. The title of this piece is, "I need the kind of generals that Hitler had." They're claiming that as a quote from Donald Trump. And in it, at a time when Trump is up 11 points with Hispanic voters, something that I think threatens Kamala Harris in every single swing state and could decimate her chances at the White House, comes the absolutely perfect story from The Atlantic to try and — to cut that back, which is a claim from this article that after a Hispanic soldier was killed in action, Trump had promised to pay for the funeral and got a bill for something like $60,000. And this article claims that Trump said — he said it doesn't cost $60,000 to bury a f-ing Mexican. So this is from the Atlantic. And this is, I mean, we've heard how they've claimed that he talks about, you know, troops in action and our fallen heroes. I want to get your reaction to this one.

REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (GUEST): Look, it's — now they're pulling out all the stops, right? So they know they're losing, so they're going to throw everything up on the wall. Doesn't matter if it's a lie. And I'm sure that these are all just bald-faced lies. And so anything to try to gin up some kind of controversy, anything to gin up that somehow he hates Hispanics. And I can tell you, you know, I've known Donald Trump for over eight years, close to ten years, and, you know, there's not a racist bone in his body. He loves America. He loves Americans. And Americans means all Americans, including Hispanics. So again, it's a bunch of hooey and again, more made up stuff. And again, just to hurt his chances.

SCHMITT: Yeah. And just — and I just saw a tweet from one of the sources that was used in the article was, it was somebody from, from the staff who said he was asked by the Atlantic if he heard the comment, and his response to the Atlantic was Trump did not say that. And in the article they quoted him as saying, I didn't hear Trump say that. So right there, you just — you see that they lie, they know how to lie. And this — you could not have created a better stony at a time when he's crushing it with the Hispanic community. How do we make that go away? Oh, here's the perfect story. And who knew they'd figure it out on October 22nd, of all the times?

GIMENEZ: Well, look, there's going to be other stories coming out, I'm sure some more outrageous stuff, and they're just going to keep getting more and more outrageous as they get more and more desperate because they're going to lose. And, you know, what's happening with the problem with them now is that, you know, we don't believe any of the stuff that comes out because, you know, who the sources are. We know they've been lying to us for years and years about Donald Trump.

SCHMITT: Yeah.

GIMENEZ: And so we're not going to believe — it's not going to help them. Actually, it may actually help Donald Trump.

SCHMITT: Right.

GIMENEZ: In a way because he said, oh, more lies about him. Yeah. We're going to show you and we're going to elect Donald Trump.

SCHMITT: We all remember the suckers and losers and how ridiculous that one was. And it just — it didn't make any sense. It just doesn't make any sense. Why would somebody say that in front of — nobody would ever say that. Somebody that had paid for so many funerals for soldiers over the years. So yeah, I got —

GIMENEZ: What did he say say? That I need Nazi generals? They lost the war.

SCHMITT: Yeah, exactly. Congressman —

GIMENEZ: Why would I want them?

SCHMITT: Exactly. So it doesn't make any sense at all.