DeSantis Attacks Trump For Calling Hezbollah ‘Very Smart’ Days After Hamas Attack

Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette via AP

Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis tore into his 2024 rival, former President Donald Trump, Wednesday for calling Hezbollah “very smart” days after Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians.

During a campaign rally in West Palm Beach, Florida on Wednesday, Trump described Hezbollah — the Lebanese political party and militant organization which supports Hamas — as “very smart” and criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for taking credit for the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani:

You know, I said that President Xi of China — 1.4 billion people, he controls it with an iron fist — I said he’s a very smart man. They killed me the next day. I said he was smart! What am I gonna say? 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.” So the following morning they attacked. 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.

In a post to X, formerly known as Twitter, DeSantis condemned Trump’s remarks and wrote:

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 President, I will stand with Israel and treat terrorists like the scum that they are.

In a separate post, the DeSantis War Room also accused Trump of praising Hezbollah and called the former president’s remarks “disgusting.”

Twitter Community Notes slapped the DeSantis War Room post with a disclaimer which read, “This post intentionally misuses the word praise to suggest Trump is complementing Hezbollah. To describe an enemy as ‘very smart’ suggests cunning not approval, glorification, or admiration.”

Trump has previously described Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un as “smart.”

In April, Trump said the North Korean leader was “very smart and he’s very cunning and he’s very ruthless.”