In a new video posted to his Truth Social platform on Thursday, former President Donald Trump went after Gov. Ron DeSantis for being purportedly disrespectful to Russian despot Vladimir Putin.
"Calling Russia 'a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons' or calling Putin a, quote, 'authoritarian gas station attendant with some legacy of nuclear weapons from the old Soviet Union' is exactly the kind of simple-minded thinking that has produced decades of failed diplomacy and war," said Trump. "Where is that war going? Those such as Mitt Romney and Ron DeSantis ... who insist on arrogantly treating Russia as deeply inferior to the other nations of the world, with no history or culture or pride, are not only ignorant and foolish, but that attitude makes it impossible to negotiate peace, absolutely impossible."
Trump went on to accuse DeSantis of "rude" treatment of Putin, even while claiming that his administration was "tougher on Russia than any administration before."
"This kind of neocon rhetoric mocking Russia's nuclear weapons, along with implying that Putin must be tried and presumably executed as a war criminal, only increases the risk of deadly, nuclear escalation," said Trump, parroting a frequent Kremlin talking point.
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In fact, it is Russia that has made unprovoked threats of nuclear war, in response to the lack of progress in their assault on Ukraine.
This comes after DeSantis, who came under fire from fellow Florida Republicans for dismissing the Ukraine invasion as a "territorial dispute" the United States can't be perpetually involved in, backpedaled and put out a statement fiercely criticizing Putin.