Donald Trump has recently been in damage-control mode over his comments in opposition to Israeli's leader following the devastating terrorist attacks on our Middle-East ally, and now a Republican consultant has used the former president's blunder as evidence that he is not America First - but Trump first.
Trump lashed out at a rally last week against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, essentially accusing him of chickening out at the last minute on the mission to take out Iranian general Qassim Suleimani. Netanyahu was a close political ally of Trump while he was in office, but Trump reportedly felt spurned when Netanyahu acknowledged Joe Biden's victory in 2020.
Since that day, Trump has been more careful about his posts concerning Israel, claiming to be the nation's biggest supporter and even using Netanyahu's nickname in an #IStandWithBibi post on Truth Social.
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Trump's rivals for the 2024 GOP nomination have almost all criticized Trump for his remarks, which included referring to a terrorist group as "very smart." Mike Pence, Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley each condemned the statements, and the Biden White House did, too, Fox News reports.
"While Trump and Netanyahu were close allies for years, the former president turned on the embattled Israel leader after Netanyahu congratulated then-President-elect Biden for winning the 2020 election while Trump was still trying to overturn the results," the outlet wrote. It noted that a Trump campaign spokesperson attempted to "clarify" the GOP front-runner's remarks in a statement to the network.
The consensus appears to be that this blunder is worse than Trump's normal errors, and that it could affect him in the election.
"The political question going forward is whether Trump's comments will hurt his current political standing as the commanding front-runner in the GOP presidential nomination race," Fox News wrote on Saturday.
The outlet also quoted David Kochel, a longtime Republican consultant and veteran of many Republican presidential campaigns.
"It’s a bigger deal than the usual screw up. These comments and the personal pique he has against Netanyahu just feels like such a selfish, stupid thing when the country (and the GOP specifically) seem to be squarely behind Israel and their government," he said.
The news report continued:
"Kochel, who's neutral in the 2024 GOP nomination battle, argued that 'this all goes back to the fact that Netanyahu congratulated Biden for winning the election. If these are the issues that will dictate Trump’s foreign policy thinking, he’s not putting America first, he’s putting Trump first. Maybe it’s time to rename his agenda.'"
