Could Donald Trump’s ‘Hitler’ Remarks Lose Him Jewish Voters?

Allegations that Donald Trump said he wanted “the kind of generals that Hitler had” during his presidency are unlikely to have a substantial impact on how Jewish voters cast their ballots in November, according to two political scientists, with one arguing incendiary comments from the Republican candidate are “what Americans expect.”

On Tuesday, The Atlantic published an article by editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg claiming that at one point in his presidency, Trump said, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had. People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.”

The claim was attributed to “two people who heard him say this,” with John Kelly, formerly Trump’s White House chief of staff, also saying the then-president expressed admiration for the loyalty of “Hitler’s generals.”

Speaking to Newsweek, Trump campaign advisor Alex Pfeiffer denied the remarks were made, commenting: “This is absolutely false. President Trump never said this.”

A recent survey of 907 American Jewish adults by CHIP50 found that 60 percent plan to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in November, double the 30 percent who said they would back Trump.

In a bid to secure Jewish votes, Trump has emphasized his support for Israel, claiming in September the country could face “total annihilation” under another Democratic administration.

In a New York Times article published earlier this week, Kelly claimed that in office, Trump “commented more than once that, You know, Hitler did some good things, too.”

Kelly also gave his own account of the “German generals” conversation cited by Goldberg, saying after Trump’s remarks, he replied, “Do you mean [Otto von] Bismarck’s generals?

He added: “I mean, I knew he didn’t know who [19th-century German Chancellor] 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 [field marshal Erwin] Rommel had to commit suicide after taking part in a plot against Hitler.”

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung denied this report, telling The New York Times that Kelly was spreading “debunked stories.”

Speaking to Newsweek, Thomas Gift, director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, said Trump’s reported remarks are unlikely to have much impact on November’s election.

“There’s no shock value with Trump anymore, so it’s unlikely this will make a difference in the vote. Trump has already said repeatedly that he wishes his generals and other officials were completely subordinate to him, as they would be to a dictator,” Gift said.

“This is yet just another example of Trump’s “authoritarian-wannabe” approach. Voters who already view Trump as a budding autocrat will believe this quote and think it repulsive, while those who support him will either disbelieve the report or, remarkably, think there’s nothing particularly wrong with it.”

Mark Shanahan, an American politics expert at the University of Surrey, expressed a similar view, telling Newsweek voters expect “ill-judged comments” from Trump.

“At this stage of the campaign, voters are going to be hit with a deluge of crass comments the candidates are supposed to have made, and each campaign will hope that their barb will have an impact. With Trump, he offers up so many ill-judged comments, and the history of the past nine years is that few, if any, stick,” Shanahan said.

“In fact, the lack of edit from nascent thought to unfiltered out-of-his-mouth comment is what Americans expect. This campaign has thrown policy out of the window and replaced it with an endless diet of candidate bashing. This quote, however reprehensible it is, is more what voters would expect than be damagingly offended by.”

A recent model from polling analytics website FiveThirtyEight gave Trump a 51 percent chance of victory in November, against 49 percent for Harris.