The nearly united rebuke among Trump’s rivals was on display across the key early state of New Hampshire, where he is a solid front-runner in primary polls.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has called his comments “absurd.” Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley said “that’s not what we need in a president.” His former running mate, Mike Pence, said his words were “reckless and irresponsible.”
As several Republican presidential hopefuls crisscrossed New Hampshire late last week, they amped up their criticism of former president Donald Trump for his comments in the days prior. In a speech to his supporters Wednesday, he praised Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group, as “very smart,” and in an interview that aired Thursday, he criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as being “not prepared” for Hamas’s attack last weekend.
Hezbollah, which operates in Lebanon to the north of Israel, has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States. Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire since Hamas’s attack on Israel, amplifying fears of a broader war.
Trump has so far mostly escaped searing criticism from most of his primary challengers, who in an effort to appeal to his large base have hesitated to attack him directly. The willingness to condemn Trump after his Israel-related comments marked a departure just months before early voting begins. His rivals demonstrated their nearly united rebuke at a multicandidate summit and in town halls across the key early state of New Hampshire, where Trump is the solid front-runner in primary polls.
“To speak in a critical way about Prime Minister Netanyahu, to refer to the terrorist organization Hezbollah as very smart, I think was incompressible to me,” Pence said from the Granite State’s Capitol building, where he officially filed to run Friday. “I believe this is a moment where we ought to send a steely resolve to the enemies of Israel.”
“You don’t congratulate or give any credit to murderers,” Haley said after she completed the same traditional rite of passage at the state Capitol. “Period. You don’t. What you do is you call them out.”
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, one of Trump’s most vocal opponents, offered seemingly the most critical of the candidates’ reactions.
“He’s a fool,” Christie said on CNN. “Only a fool would make those kinds of comments. Only a fool would give comments that give aid and comfort to Israel’s adversary in this situation, and he always places it in the context of himself.”
The only candidate to back Trump was business entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who said that criticism of Trump was “laughable” given his support of Israel. He called Republicans’ reactions another example of “selective moral outrage.”
Several Republican strategists told The that candidates’ efforts to contrast themselves are unlikely to make any major dent in Trump’s sizable lead.
Whit Ayres, a GOP pollster and president of North Star Opinion Research, said some voters might be swayed, especially those who are particularly supportive of Israel, but it will not deter a base that has already committed to the dominant front-runner of the party.
