Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called Putin “basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons.”
Trump slammed DeSantis over the comments, claiming the rhetoric could lead to a war.
Trump has a long history of defending Putin, calling his justification for invading Ukraine “brilliant.”
Former President Donald Trump has attacked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his recent comments condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin.
DeSantisranked as the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 (although he has announced no intention to run), has called Putin a “war criminal” and said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “wrong”. Fox Nation interview with Piers Morgan last week.
He also said the Russian leader is “basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons,” previously referring to him as one “authoritarian gas station attendant”, resonant rhetoric used by the late Republican Senator John McCainwho described Russia in 2014 as “a gas station disguised as a country”.
In a new one campaign Video, Trump defended Putin and condemned DeSantis’ comments as “exactly the kind of simpleminded thinking that produced decades of failed diplomacy and ultimately war”.
He also said DeSantis and Sen. Mitt Romney are “very similar” and “insist on arrogantly treating Russia as inferior to the other nations of the world, with no history, culture or pride.” He added their “stance makes it impossible to negotiate peace.”
DeSantis and Romney representatives did not immediately respond to insider requests for comment.
Trump has a long history to defend Putin, which launched an attack on Ukraine in February 2022. After US intelligence agencies concluded that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election, Trump has sided with Putin. After meeting Putin in person during a 2018 summit in Helsinki, Finland, Trump cast doubt on the results, declined to condemn the Kremlin and said he saw “no reason” why Russia interfered.
If Russia invaded Ukraine In February last year, Trump said Putin’s justification for the invasion was “devious” and “ingenious.” In October he has blamed the US for the invasionwho accused American leaders of “mocking” Putin and “almost forcing” him to invade.
So was Trump indicted in 2019 over the phone in which he threatened to withhold military aid to Ukraine approved by Congress and pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to open an investigation into the Biden family.
For his part, DeSantis previously called the war in Ukraine a “territorial dispute” and said it was not of “vital national interest” for the US, a position that brings him closer to Trump on the issue but alienates him from some other Republicans.
In last week’s interview, in which he called Putin a war criminal, DeSantis said his remarks had been “mischaracterized.”
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Source : news.yahoo.com