Donald Trump lashed out at Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a speech and Fox News appearance following brutal attacks by Hamas, and MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire confirmed the former president was nursing a personal grudge.
Trump told Fox News that Netanyahu had not been prepared for the attack, which seems to be the case, but boasted Israel would have been safe had he been president, and then alleged in a speech to supporters that the prime minister "let us down" during the 2020 drone strike killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani while also praising Hezbollah as "very smart."
"There are no words really to describe what we're looking at as a nation," said "Morning Joe" contributor Mike Barnicle, speaking on the contrast between Trump and President Joe Biden during this crisis. "We've seen the president of the United States speak quite emotionally about Israel. We've seen the secretary of state speak quite emotionally and sensibly about what's happening in Israel right now ... Experience does count. We all know how old the president is, but experience does count. Dignity does count, awareness of America's role in the world on the global stage does count. The fact that a human being like the president or the secretary of state can so closely identify with pain and loss and articulate it does count."
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Lemire confirmed suspicions that Trump attacked Netanyahu, with whom he enjoyed a close relationship as president, because he had praised Biden and undercut his narrative blaming the current president for the Hamas massacre.
"And on that point, part of the reason why Trump was critical of Netanyahu in the last couple of days, I'm told by someone close to the former president, is Netanyahu had praised President Biden," Lemire said. "Trump simply couldn't stand for that."
"What we're seeing from the Republican Party, where we have Donald Trump out there not just mixing up facts, but praising Hezbollah, attacking our ally at a time of war, criticizing Netanyahu," Lemire added. "We have the Republican House being unable to come together for a speaker, and I agree. People who I talk to say they're not close. This could stretch for days, if not into next week. We also, of course, because of that bickering, we have an inability as a nation to send Israel the aid it needs and that's not even getting to Ukraine."
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