After JD Vance told reporters to “shut the hell up” in response to Donald Trump’s own former chief of staff labeling him a “fascist,” DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump’s closest aides and handlers – including JD Vance – know the truth about Trump’s dangerous disregard for the rule of law and his desire to wield unchecked power against his fellow Americans. Vance’s public outbursts aren’t going to change the fact that those who know Trump best are warning all Americans that he’s a threat to our democracy – and that he would be even more dangerous in a second term.”

JD Vance’s response to a question about John Kelly calling Trump a “fascist” and revealing his praise for Hitler’s generals was “shut the hell up about what happened four years ago.” 

Question: “My question is I wanted to get your reaction to President Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, who told the New York Times that Trump could rule like a dictator and meets the definition of a fascist. Just want to get your reaction, sir.”

Vance: “Yeah. Look, you could just, look you could just record the boos of the crowd and that’s my response to that question. […] Talk about the future, Kamala Harris, talk about what you want to do, and shut the hell up about what happened four years ago.”

New recordings of Kelly reveal Trump’s former chief of staff calling him a “fascist” and saying that Trump wanted “the kind of generals Hitler had.”

The Atlantic: “As his presidency drew to a close, and in the years since, he has become more and more interested in the advantages of dictatorship, and the absolute control over the military that he believes it would deliver. ‘I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,’ Trump said in a private conversation in the White House, according to two people who heard him say this. ‘People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.’”

New York Times: “[Kelly] said that, in his opinion, Mr. Trump met the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of law. […]

“Mr. Trump’s recent comments about using the military against what he called the ‘enemy within’ were so dangerous, he said, that he felt he had to speak out.

“‘And I think this issue of using the military on — to go after — American citizens is one of those things I think is a very, very bad thing — even to say it for political purposes to get elected — I think it’s a very, very bad thing, let alone actually doing it,’ Mr. Kelly said.”

Trump, who is vowing to be a dictator on “day one,” told voters they “won’t have to vote anymore” if he’s elected president. 

The Atlantic: “Trump Says He’ll Be a Dictator on ‘Day One’”

Trump: “You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what – it will be fixed, it will be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore.”

Trump is still pushing lies about his loss by over 7 million votes in the 2020 election. Vance is right there with him, even refusing to commit to accepting this November’s results.

Associated Press: “[Trump] is flooding the airwaves and his social media platform with distortions, misinformation and unfounded conspiracy theories about his defeat.”

NBC News: “Re-litigating the 2020 election, repeating false claims it was stolen and casting aspersions on the security of mail voting remain major fixtures for [Trump] on the stump. […] He regularly refers to the 2020 election as ‘rigged’ on his social media channels.”

HuffPost: “[Vance] said he would accept a Biden win only if he considered the election to be legitimate. […] Vance’s comments illustrate a new tactic by Republican lawmakers, who are now placing conditions on accepting election results.”

New York Times: “J.D. Vance Says He Would Accept the Election Results, With a Caveat”

Vance: “I think the entire post-2020 thing would have gone a lot better if there had actually been an effort to provide alternative slates of electors, and to force us to have that debate. I think it would’ve been a much better thing for the country. […] [Trump] was trying to take a constitutional process to its natural conclusion.

“I think it would’ve been extraordinarily disappointing to a whole host of people that I care a lot about if Trump had just taken it [and conceded the 2020 election before January 6].”

Vance: “No real Republican with any credibility in the party is still blaming [Trump for January 6].”

ABC News: “JD Vance says [he] wouldn’t have certified 2020 race until states submitted pro-Trump electors”

New York Times: “[Vance] has said that, unlike Vice President Mike Pence in 2020, he would have helped Mr. Trump overturn the results, by accepting Trump electors that had not been elected by voters.”