Former President Donald Trump is denouncing the “neocon rhetoric” of Ron DeSantis regarding Ukraine.
In a new video, Trump lambasted the Florida Governor for taking a position he framed as fundamentally unserious, disrespectful to Russia and heedless given the nuclear threat posed by Moscow.
“Calling Russia a ‘gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons’ or calling Vladimir Putin an ‘authoritarian gas station attendant with some legacy nuclear weapons from the old Soviet Union’ is exactly the kind of simple-minded thinking that has produced decades of failed diplomacy and ultimately war,” Trump contended, alluding to dismissive comments DeSantis made last year about the conflict.
Trump went on to say that DeSantis’ downplaying the Russian threat was reminiscent of another GOP leader of yesteryear.
“Those such as Mitt Romney and Ron DeSantis, very much alike, 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 their attitude makes it impossible to negotiate peace,” Trump contended.
“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 chance of deadly nuclear escalation,” Trump contended.
The former President then again referenced one of DeSantis’ recent pivots on the Ukraine question.
“Fundamentally, it shows a lack of depth, a lack of seriousness and a lack of sophistication on the subtleties and complexities of foreign policy,” Trump charged. “This is not the time for on-the-job training as we face the possibility of nuclear war and our leaders if you call them, that got us there.”
Trump then added, “We need a statesman and a peacemaker in the White House. Not someone who recites mindless and recycled talking points to win the approval of the failed foreign policy establishment that didn’t know what they were doing.”
Trump’s comments on the Ukraine matter and DeSantis’ muddled response come after the Governor has attempted to reposition himself to no one’s satisfaction.
DeSantis originally deemed the war a “territorial dispute” and not one of America’s “vital national interests” in a statement provided to Tucker Carlson.
He has attempted to qualify that statement since.
“Well, I think it’s been mischaracterized. Obviously, Russia invaded (last year) — that was wrong. They invaded Crimea and took that in 2014 — that was wrong.” DeSantis told Piers Morgan.
In yet another friendly interview, Ron DeSantis attempted to clarify to Eric Bolling of Newsmax what his position actually is on the conflict, blaming critics for misunderstanding.
“I never changed anything,” DeSantis said.
Trump isn’t alone in deriding DeSantis on the issue. Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley blasted the Governor as “weak in the knees” on the Russian invasion during a television interview last week.
Haley suggested earlier this month that part of DeSantis’ confusion on the issue, when he first downplayed the Ukraine/Russia War in a statement to Carlson, stemmed from being an imitator of former President Trump.
“President Trump is right when he says Gov. DeSantis is copying him — first in his style, then on entitlement reform and now on Ukraine. I have a different style than President Trump, and while I agree with him on most policies, I do not on those. Republicans deserve a choice, not an echo.”
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