Seth Meyers weighs in on Trump’s apparent praise of Hitler

Seth Meyers has weighed in on Donald Trump’s alleged praise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, reported in a new analysis of post-Cold War global politics released this week.

“According to a new book, former president Trump has praised Adolf Hitler in private conversation with aides and once said, quote, ‘Hitler did some good things.’” Meyers said in a recent episode of Late Night.

“Oh, come on, I don’t believe he said that once,” the host added, with emphasis on that last word.

Meyers has previously delved into the times that Mr Trump has shown “admiration for dictators” following a comment he made that he would be a dictator on “day one” of his possible second term.

“He used to be pro-choice, now he’s anti-abortion. He used to be for gun control, now he’s against it. But the one thing he’s been consistent on his entire life is his support for dictators,” Meyers said on his show in December.

The book that was released on Tuesday, The Return of Great Powers, is written by Jim Sciutto, a CNN Anchor and Chief National Security Analyst.

Mr Sciutto highlighted a few key moments from his interviews with senior former advisors in an article on the day of the book release, such as an alarming claim that Mr Trump allegedly said that Adolf Hitler “did some good things”.

The CNN anchor spoke to retired US Marine Corps General John Kelly, who was homeland security secretary before becoming chief of staff under Mr Trump. He alleged that Mr Trump passed comment on Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany in World War II.

“He said, ‘Well, but Hitler did some good things.’ 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. And I said, ‘Sir, you can never say anything good about the guy. Nothing,’” Mr Kelly claimed. “I mean, Mussolini was a great guy in comparison.”

Kelly added: “It’s pretty hard to believe he missed the Holocaust, though, and pretty hard to understand how he missed the 400,000 American GIs that were killed in the European theatre.

“But I think it’s more, again, the tough guy thing.”

Back in 2021, reports that Mr Trump allegedly said Hitler “did a lot of good things” were also aired in another book by Michael Bender.

Bender wrote in ’Frankly, We Did Win This Election’: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost, that Mr Trump said these remarks to Mr Kelly.

In a statement to The Independent in 2021, Mr Trump’s spokesperson Liz Harrington denied he ever made the comments about Hitler. “This is totally false,” she said. “President Trump never said this. It is made-up fake news, probably by a general who was incompetent and was fired.”

When asked by CNN to respond to the allegations from the ex-Trump administration officials, the 77-year-old’s campaign spokesman Steven Cheung did not comment on the claims themselves, but he did say, “John Kelly and John Bolton have completely beclowned themselves and are suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. They need to seek professional help because their hatred is consuming their empty lives.”

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates also offered CNN a response to the Hitler-praising allegations, saying that President Joe Biden has called the Nazi leader a “demonic figure”.

“No American should ever praise the genocidal monster who committed the Holocaust. Just like it is incumbent on all leaders not to associate with neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers. Hundreds of thousands of American service members – heroes, not ‘suckers’ or ‘losers’ – gave their lives to defeat that evil. Admiring Hitler is an insult to their memory. President Biden is committed to bringing all Americans together based on our shared values,” Mr Bates told the news outlet.

The Independent has contacted Mr Trump for further comment.