Tim Miller, on behalf of the Bulwark, reports that Donald Trump, former head of state, has decided to heap praise on Hezbollah during the Israel-Palestinian crisis. He also criticized Netanyahu—not for his scorched-earth policy against Gaza but for taking credit for a mission conducted years ago.
Trump was speaking live at Club 47 in West Palm Beach as Miller made his report. (The segment on YouTube is timestamped around 10:30 EST.)
At a Trump rally happening right now in West Palm Beach, Florida, there have been cheers for the attack on the Capitol and praise for the terrorists who are attacking Israel. Freaking insane shit, even for Trump.
First thing that happened, before Trump is even on stage tonight, one of the speakers, Rogan O’Hanley, said this:
My favorite memory of him [Trump] is January 6th, and—yeah! And he’s the only man that has stood against election fraud!
You can see the people standing up and starting to cheer. This is like a domestic terrorist cult rally. Like, pass the Kool-Aid. What in the fuck is happening right now?
Didn’t we have a period of time where these people all pretended like it was Antifa that did the attack on January 6th? Now at a Trump rally, the speakers that go in front of him, the warm-up act, if you will, is getting the crowd hot by bragging about January 6th?
Miller also described Trump’s praise of terrorism:
Trump gets on stage. He gave a speech earlier this week after the attack, after the Hamas attack on Israel. He barely talked about Israel in this speech, up in New Hampshire…. Well, here he is today. Maybe this is why his people didn’t want him to talk about this, because when he does start talking about Israel, it is totally wheels off.
Cue to ~2:17 for what’s beyond the pale.
Donald Trump: You know, Hezbollah’s very smart. They’re all very smart. The press doesn’t like when I say that.
Miller gives context, explaining, “Hezbollah is the ally of Hamas, the terrorist group in Lebanon that is now entering the fray in this war. Trump is praising them.”
Trump went on to criticize Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that the prime minister had “let him down” and somehow stole his thunder regarding a past military mission.
This is a one-source story, but the Bulwark has clips from the rally itself. As soon as this story is corroborated, I will update accordingly.
Update: C-SPAN has the full speech here. It runs approximately 1:45:00.
2nd update: The Washington Post is carrying the story: “Trump faults Netanyahu, calls Hezbollah ‘very smart’ amid Israel war” (gift link)
In the same lower right-hand column (equivalent of “below the fold”), WaPo includes this primer to give fuller context: “What is Hezbollah, the militant group on Israel’s northern border?” (gift link)
3rd update: The Guardian has weighed in: “Trump uses Israel-Hamas war to say Biden brings ‘chaos and terror’ at rally”
From the article:
Trump’s central theme during his one hour and 40 minute speech was that Biden was to blame for the increase in conflicts during his time in office, though the factual record supported little of his supposed arguments.
“Under my leadership the world was peaceful and calm because America was respected … with crooked Joe Biden, you have chaos, bloodshed, war, terror and death,” Trump said. “Joe Biden came along and tossed Israel to the bloodthirsty jihads,” Trump added without offering evidence.