While hosting Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán at Mar-a-Lago last Friday, Donald Trump praised him as “fantastic,” and claimed “There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán. He’s the boss and he’s a great leader, fantastic leader. In Europe and around the world, they respect him.”

Of course, Trump frequently has praise for dictators like Kim Jong-un, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and perhaps most notoriously, Adolf Hitler. For retired Gen. John Kelly, who was Trump’s chief of staff, this is especially alarming. In an interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto for his book The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War, published last week, Sciutto talked to Kelly and others who served in his administration. Each cautioned that a man who continually praises dictators who oppose U.S. interests is poorly suited to lead the country in the potential power clashes that may be coming. These former advisers say they believe that his admiration for autocrats stems from the fact that he’s envious of their power.

In his interview with Sciutto, Kelly noted:

“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,’” Kelly recounted. “I mean, Mussolini was a great guy in comparison.”

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

But according to Kelly, Trump admired more than just Hitler’s economic policies, Sciutto writes. The former president also expressed admiration for Hitler’s hold on senior Nazi officers. Trump lamented that he, unlike Hitler, often wasn’t able to keep his senior staff’s “loyalty,” Kelly recounted.

According to Sciutto:

“He would ask about the loyalty issues and about how, when I pointed out to him the German generals as a group were not loyal to him, and in fact tried to assassinate him a few times, and he didn’t know that,” Kelly recalled. “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.

Sciutto questioned Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung about the allegations from Trump’s former administration officials. Cheung didn’t comment on the substance of what they told him, instead stating, “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.”

A spokesman also denied allegations that Trump praised Hitler as far back as 2021.

Biden administration spokesperson Andrew Bates responded to Trump’s alleged praise of the German leader in a statement Tuesday, saying that Biden has described Hitler as 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,” Bates said.

If you remember, Trump initially wanted a military parade. That would be typical for someone who thinks they should be a dictator. And the fact that he’s already said he planned to be”dictator for a day” (which we know is a lie) should worry anyone capable of rational thinking. There are provisions set in place to prevent him from doing this, as noted by USA Today. The courts, Congress, the press, and other key factors can help stop a Trump dictatorship.

Let’s hope they are all up to the job.