More ‘lifelong Republican’ former Trump aides denounce ex-president in letter

A fresh group of “lifelong Republican” former aides to Donald Trump added their voices on Friday to the chorus of criticism of the Republican nominee’s character and fitness for the White House, speaking out in support of John Kelly, who earlier this week called his old boss a fascist.

“The revelations General Kelly brought forward are disturbing and shocking. But because we know Trump and have worked for and alongside him, we were sadly not surprised by what General Kelly had to say,” a letter from more than a dozen staffers who worked in Trump’s administration says, as first reported by Politico.

Among those who signed the letter is Kevin Carroll, a former senior counselor to Kelly, the former military general who was Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff during the Republican’s one-term presidency.

Others who signed the letter include the former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews, the former assistant secretary of homeland security Elizabeth Neumann, the former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and the former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security Miles Taylor, who turned out to be the author of the book Anonymous that warned of the dangers of Trump’s wild and undemocratic behavior relatively early on in his chaotic administration.

Other signatories include the former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, the former press secretary to then vice-president Mike Pence Alyssa Farah Griffin, and the former national security adviser to the then vice-president Olivia Troye.

The letter follows an interview in which Kelly told the New York Times that Trump fitted the description of a fascist. This was shortly after the Atlantic magazine published a story detailing former Trump advisers’ accounts of the then president expressing a wish for “the kind of generals that Hitler had”. The article also quoted Kelly describing Trump’s consistent pattern of demeaning members of the military. The Trump campaign has denied these accounts.

It also follows dire warnings about Trump’s extremism, erraticism and disregard for the US constitution from the likes of Gen Mark Milley, the former chair of the joint chiefs of staff, and the former Trump defense secretaries James Mattis and Mark Esper, to the ex-national security adviser John Bolton, the ex-secretary of state Rex Tillerson and Trump’s own vice-president, Mike Pence, and others.

The letter, released to Politico, continues: “We applaud General Kelly for highlighting in stark details the danger of a second Trump term. Like General Kelly, we did not take the decision to come forward lightly. We are all lifelong Republicans who served our country. However, 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.”