Adolf Hitler “did a lot of good things,” Donald Trump reportedly said during a visit to France in 2018, a Wall Street Journal reporter said in a book to be published on July 13.

The statements, which the former US president denied making, were said to have been made on the sidelines of a visit to Europe on the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, according to Michael Bender, author of the book Frankly, We Did Win this election , extracts of which were published on Wednesday July 7 before its release.

Michael Bender says the remark took place during an “improvised history lesson” given to Donald Trump by his then chief of staff, John Kelly. The former general of the Marines would thus have “reminded the president which countries were on which side during the conflict” and “connected the dots between the First World War and the Second as well as all the atrocities (committed by) Hitler”.

“Saw off” by the argument, John Kelly is said to have “told the president he was wrong but Trump stuck with his positions,” pointing to the economic recovery of Germany led by the Nazi Party in the 1930s .

The journalist, who quotes anonymous sources, indicates that the “chief of staff” of the billionaire would have replied: “You cannot speak well of Adolf Hitler. Not at all”.

Michael Bender also assures that Donald Trump “has a stunning ignorance of history”, especially that of slavery and segregation in the United States.

Donald Trump’s visit to France had given rise to another controversy, when he canceled his visit to an American cemetery near Paris , explaining that the bad weather conditions made it impossible.

But according to The Atlantic , the president just didn’t see the point. “Why should I go to this cemetery? It’s filled with losers, ”he reportedly told members of his team, the newspaper reported in September 2020, also citing anonymous sources.

Donald Trump would also have called the 1,541 American soldiers who died during the Battle of Belleau Wood as “morons”, before asking “who were the good guys” during this conflict. These allegations had been strongly denied by the White House .