Former President Donald Trump’s description Wednesday of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that recently attacked Israel, as “very smart” drew criticism from 2024 GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, who called his rival’s choice of words “absurd.”
Trump made the comments while speaking at a Club 47 event in West Palm Beach during which Florida Republican congressman Matt Gaetz also addressed the crowd.
During his speech, Trump continued to insist that President Joe Biden is to blame for the deadly conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas simply because he is now president and Trump isn’t.
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“If the election wasn’t rigged, there would be nobody even thinking about going into Israel,” Trump said, also regurgitating his bogus election fraud claim. “The election was rigged, very sadly rigged.”
The comments sparked ire with DeSantis, Trump’s biggest competition in the 2024 Republican presidency race, though DeSantis still trails the former president by a wide margin.
“Terrorists have murdered at least 1,200 Israelis and 22 Americans and are holding more hostage, so it is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, much less praise Hezbollah terrorists as ‘very smart,’” the Florida governor wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to Trump’s speech. “As President, I will stand with Israel and treat terrorists like the scum that they are.”
In a radio interview earlier in the day with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, the former president made a similar assertion about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s level of preparedness.
“He was not prepared and Israel was not prepared. And under Trump, they wouldn’t have had to be prepared,” Trump claimed.
Unsurprisingly, Trump has also used the Middle East crisis to gin up fears about immigration through the U.S.--Mexico border.
“The same people that raided Israel are pouring into our once beautiful USA, through our TOTALLY OPEN SOUTHERN BORDER, at Record Numbers,” Trump claimed baselessly in a Truth Social post Monday. “Are they planning an attack within our Country? Crooked Joe Biden and his BOSS, Barack Hussein Obama, did this to us!”
Separately on Fox, DeSantis said Israel has “Every right to defend themselves” and called for the “complete annihilation of Hamas.”
