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Stephen Colbert has reacted to Donald Trump’s recent outlandish remarks he made at a rally in Georgia.
On Monday (October 28) evening, the former US president defended himself against accusations that he is a fascist while speaking to rallygoers in Atlanta. “I’m not a Nazi. I’m the opposite of a Nazi,” Trump told the crowd. “Y’know, years ago, my father – I had a great father, he’s a tough guy – he used to always say, ‘Never use the word Nazi.’ And he’d say, ‘Never use the word Hitler, don’t use that word.’”
During the latest episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the late-night host responded to Trump’s unconventional family rule, saying: “Well, that’s just weird. You can’t say Hitler? What does that mean? It’s not a swear word.”
Mimicking Trump’s voice, Colbert joked: “My dad used to say, ‘You can’t say Hitler, OK? Don’t you dare take his name in vain.’ And he would make me put a quarter – anytime I would – he would make me put a quarter in the ‘Hitler jar’ and when it got filled, he would send it to my uncles in Argentina.”
Trump, 78, has continuously denied claims made by former officials of his first term administration that he’s a fascist. In an interview with the New York Times published last week, former chief of staff John Kelly said that Trump “fits the definition of fascism.”
“Looking at the definition of fascism: It’s a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy,” he said. “In my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks would work better in terms of running America.”
Shortly after, 13 former members of Trump’s administration wrote a letter in support of Kelly’s comments, saying: “There are moments in history where it becomes necessary to put country over party. This is one of those moments. Everyone should heed General Kelly’s warning.”
Kelly previously claimed that Trump privately praised Hitler and expressed envy at his control over the military.
The Trump reelection campaign has vehemently denied Kelly’s claims, telling The Independent: “This is absolutely false, President Trump never said this.”
