🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
A retired four-star Army general has compared loyalists of former President Donald Trump to Nazis in 1930s Germany.
In an appearance on MSNBC's All in with Chris Hayes, Barry McCaffrey said what the United States is seeing today with Trump-supporting Republicans "is a parallel to the 1930s in Nazi Germany."
"This is all worth being extremely concerned about," he said when asked about Trump's recent comments about General Mark Milley and the months-long campaign by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a close Trump ally, to change Pentagon policy, including on abortion, by holding up military nominations and promotions.
On Friday, Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, lashed out at Milley, the retiring chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, over phone calls he made to China in the final months of Trump's presidency.
On his Truth Social platform, he claimed Milley had committed "an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!"
Milley has defended the calls, and said he has "adequate safety precautions" amid concerns Trump's comments could spark violence.
On MSNBC, McCaffrey said Trump's followers were part of a "lawless cult."
He said: "I don't say that's the Republican Party. That's 15 to 25 House members, a couple of senators and all those who are Trump MAGA loyalists. This is a cult. It's a lawless cult, and it's a major threat to the armed forces of the United States and our security."
Asked for a response to McCaffrey's comments, a spokesperson for Tuberville told Newsweek: "This is pretty unhinged. There's nothing to respond to here."
McCaffrey, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, was in the U.S. Army for 32 years and later served as director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy under President Bill Clinton.
He added that Trump's comment about Milley was "shameful" but that Milley would not be intimidated.
"He's a Princeton hockey player, he's a tough guy, he had years in combat, his mom and dad fought in World War Two," McCaffrey said of Milley.
"But it's a shameful act on the part of those speaking in a manner to support authoritarian government. This is outrageous."
In an interview that will air on 60 Minutes on Sunday, Milley said: "I'm a soldier, I've been faithful and loyal to the Constitution of the United States for 44 1/2 years, and my family and I have sacrificed greatly for this country, my father and mother before them.
"You know, as much as these comments are directed at me, it's also directed at the institution of the military...every single one of us, from private to general, are loyal to the Constitution and will never turn our back on it."
Newsweek reached out to McCaffrey via social media and a Trump spokesperson via email for comment, respectively.
Update 9/28/23, 9:45 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from a Tuberville spokesperson.
About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's National Correspondent based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on education and national news. Khaleda ... Read more