The Trump campaign fired back at Ron DeSantis after the Florida governor criticized comments by the former President in which he characterized Hezbollah as “very smart.”
Trump made the comments during a campaign rally in West Palm Beach, Florida on Wednesday.
“But Hezbollah, they’re very smart and they have a national defense minister or somebody saying, ‘I hope Hezbollah doesn’t attack us from the north,’” Trump told the crowd.
“So the following morning they attacked,” he continued. “They might not have been doing it, but if you listen to this jerk, you would attack from the north because he said that’s our weak spot.”
Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Shi’a militia group based in Lebanon. Officials reported that the group fired anti-tank missiles across the northern border, striking Israeli soldiers.
Last night Trump called Hezbollah very smart and preemptively mocked the Fake News for criticizing when he calls adversaries smart.
And the Fake News and DeSimp Campaign STILL took the bait
These people are such idiots. pic.twitter.com/4VAsF8yxBr
— Patri0tsareinContr0l (@Patri0tContr0l) October 12, 2023
RELATED: WATCH: CNN Gets Called Out On Air For Deceptively Editing DeSantis’ ‘Listless Vessels’ Clip
DeSantis Pounces On Trump’s ‘Very Smart’ Comments
The DeSantis camp instantly seized on Trump’s comments suggesting Hezbollah is “very smart” and issued a statement condemning the remarks.
The Florida governor’s rapid response team posted a clip of the speech to the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, and labeled it “disgusting.”
NEW: Trump praises Hezbollah, calling the Iran-backed terror group “very smart” hours after they attacked Israel.
Disgusting. pic.twitter.com/8YhjpyyGLZ
— DeSantis War Room (@DeSantisWarRoom) October 12, 2023
DeSantis himself also took to X to express his disdain over the comments.
“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,’” he wrote. “As President, I will stand with Israel and treat terrorists like the scum that they are.”
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.”
As… pic.twitter.com/408e82OVDP
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) October 12, 2023
RELATED: DeSantis Finally Fires Back at Trump, On Eve of Trump’s Possible Arrest
Trump’s Campaign Fires Back
These unforced errors from team DeSantis are simply something to behold. Trump clearly is remarking that it’s pretty “smart” to attack somebody when they just told you their geographical weakness.
On top of it, prior to the Hezbollah remark, Trump actually makes a comment about the media “killing me” for calling President Xi Jinping of China “a very smart man.”
This is absolute nonsense. Trump is not praising Hezbollah. Saying somebody is smart, and that the Biden administration made an error is not praising them.
This comes off as incredibly desperate. https://t.co/iZWwqbL8U6
— Carmine Sabia (@CarmineSabia) October 12, 2023
DeSantis, though, isn’t just regurgitating the media narrative behind Trump’s comments, he’s regurgitating talking points from the White House.
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates issued a statement saying Trump’s remarks were “dangerous and unhinged.”
“It’s completely lost on us why any American would ever praise an Iran-backed terrorist organization as ‘smart,’” he added.
White House torches Donald Trump’s new comments on Israel & Hezbollah.
“Statements like this are dangerous and unhinged. It’s completely lost on us why any American would ever praise an Iran-backed terrorist organization as ‘smart,’” says White House spokesman @AndrewJBates46. https://t.co/rf7dQfF9pk pic.twitter.com/wWknRp8DK6
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 12, 2023
Echoing the media and the Biden administration surely is not going to help attract conservative voters to your cause.
Trump’s own campaign fired back at DeSantis for his criticism, pointing out that calling an enemy smart doesn’t equate to praise.
“President Trump was clearly pointing out how incompetent Biden and his administration were by telegraphing to the terrorists an area that is susceptible to an attack,” they wrote on X.
“Smart does not equal good. It just proves Biden is stupid. And now you look stupid, Ron,” they added.
President Trump was clearly pointing out how incompetent Biden and his administration were by telegraphing to the terrorists an area that is susceptible to an attack. Smart does not equal good. It just proves Biden is stupid. And now you look stupid, Ron. https://t.co/yYpZ9oJbGe
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 12, 2023
DeSantis has made a fair share of mistakes while campaigning for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, most notably in calling Trump supporters “listless vessels” and stating Trump should have done more to stop the Capitol riot.
Trump predicted DeSantis would soon be dropping out of the race as he continues to flail in the polls.
“Ron DeSanctimonious has the Poll numbers of a wounded bird falling from the sky,” Trump said on Truth Social. “He will SOON be out of money and dropping out of the race for President.”
Trump has been right about countless predictions in the past. Only time will tell if he’s correct about this one as well.
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