The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War

by Jim Sciutto

“A second term with him [Trump]—particularly when he would not be worrying about reelection—it would be fundamentally a catastrophe for us.” These aren’t the words of a mere outside observer of the former president, but of retired Marine Corps general John Kelly, who served nearly two years in the Trump administration, first as secretary of Homeland Security and then, for the bulk of his time in the White House, as chief of staff to the president, with daily face-to-face encounters with Trump on some of the most sensitive national security issues.

“I just don’t think he has enough of a brain to have an articulated view, but because he thinks everything through the prism of ‘How does this benefit Donald Trump?’ ” Ambassador John Bolton,

What specifically about Hitler did Trump praise? “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.

“He truly believed, when he brought us generals in, that we would be loyal—that we would do anything he wanted us to do,” Kelly told me.

Why does Trump admire dictators? Kelly and others who served under Trump believe he envies their power and believes he should have wielded similar power.

Several former members of the Trump administration shared a similar assessment: he sees himself as tough, though, in their experience, did little to back up that self-image. “He’s not a tough guy by any means, but in fact quite the opposite,” said Kelly. “But that’s how he envisions himself.”

Bolton recalls Trump’s near exit from NATO with genuine trepidation. “Honest to God, it was frightening because we didn’t know what he was going to do up until the last minute. And I mean, I think, he all but said he was going to get out of NATO and then pulled back on it,” said Bolton.

At the root of Trump’s often impulsive foreign policy decision-making was his fundamental misunderstanding of the office of president.

“The whole time I was there, he was one of these guys that just had very little base knowledge about anything but assumed he was an expert on everything, and something would set him off,” Kelly recalled.

“Trump doesn’t have a philosophy,” said Bolton. “He doesn’t adhere to policies in the sense that that term is understood in Washington. His decisions tend to be ad hoc and not firm or stable.”

And to Kelly, who lost a son in combat in Afghanistan, Trump would often say, “Why do you people all say that these guys who get wounded or killed are heroes?” Kelly recalled Trump saying. “They’re suckers for going in the first place, and they’re losers.” “Suckers” and “losers”—a sitting president’s description of Americans who had given their lives in military service to their country.

Perhaps that’s his mindset around longtime allies. In a second term, his former senior advisors envision Trump undoing a whole host of US security commitments around the globe—and in a more lasting way than he managed in the first term. Moreover,