John Kelly stated that Trump doesn't "know any history at all," even the basics, according to a new book.
It adds that he made the comment while Trump was meeting Angela Merkel at 2018 G20 summit.
Fiona Hill writes that Merkel explained to Trump the reasons Germany was involved in US-Russian arms-control negotiations.
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John Kelly, former chief of staff to President Donald Trump, once said that Trump doesn't "know any history at all" or even basic facts about the US.
This is according to Fiona Hill's new book, which was written by a former senior director for European affairs and Russian affairs at Trump's National Security Council.
Hill claimed Kelly made the comment at the 2018 G20 summit held in Buenos Aires (Argentina). Trump was at the time meeting Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, to discuss the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. After Trump had announced that the US would be withdrawing from the landmark agreement in October 2017, the summit was held shortly thereafter.
Hill stated in her memoir "There is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity In the Twenty-First Century" that Trump initially resisted discussing the treaty with Merkel and European officials, as it was between the US-Russia. Hill writes that Merkel and her team had "cut their teeth" on the issue when they were younger.
Trump was told by Merkel at the G20 summit she had participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations in East Germany in 1980s, and that her West German colleagues opposed the installation of US missiles in Europe. Hill writes that Merkel "patiently and even humorfully explained all of this to Trump at the G20 summit and how the threat of a US-Soviet nuke war had been the all-encompassing subject of her youth."
Trump's conversation to Merkel was "the first time" that he had "ever listened and understood the European perspective on the 1980s, and why they believed the arms control negotiations between the US-Russian alliance were so important," it says. It states that Trump was able to see that none of these things had ever happened before.
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Hill wrote that Kelly commented on Trump's ignorance of geopolitics while Merkel was explaining Europe’s interest in US-Russia relations.
According to Hill's book, Kelly said that he leaned over and whispered to me, "The problem is that the president doesn’t know any of these." He doesn't even know the basics of US history.
Hill wrote that the former president's ineptness about global issues caused irritation to other leaders around the world during phone calls. "Some leaders, such as President Erdogan of Turkey would get mad in meetings or on phone calls when Trump clearly didn't know what they were talking.
Hill writes that Trump's inability to learn and refusal to do his homework were a "major liability for US national security."
Insider reached out to Trump and Kelly for clarification, but they did not immediately reply to our request.
Kelly had previously commented on the intelligence of the president and his grasp of global events.
NBC News reported that Kelly said to White House staffers in April 2018 that Trump was an "idiot", and that he portrayed himself as being the only person who could stop the US from disaster.
Kelly, a former Marine Corps General who served for over 40 years, denies the report at the moment, calling it "total BS". He also said that Trump and he had an "incredibly candid and strong relationship."
Michael Bender, Wall Street Journal's editor, also states in "Frankly. We Did Win This Election" how Kelly had decried Trump's ignorance when he told him in 2018 that Adolf Hitler had "done a lot of great things."
Bender writes that Trump was prompted by the comment. Kelly informed Trump that he was wrong, and "reminded him which countries were on which sides during the conflict." According to Bender's book, he also "connected all the dots from the first war to the second war and all of Hitler’s atrocities" and told Trump that he could never say anything favorable about Adolf Hitler. It's impossible.
Trump spokesperson said that the Hitler anecdote was false and denied it to The Guardian. This was not a statement made by President Trump. It is fake news made up by an incompetent general and fired.
Trump announced Kelly's resignation in December 2018, just after the G20 summit in Argentina. In February 2019, the US sent a formal notice to the INF Treaty, and the country withdrew officially in August 2019.
Business Insider has the original article.
