Sen. Graham: Trump’s Hezbollah Remark ‘Huge Mistake’

Ranking member of the Senate Judicial Committee, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., condemned former President Donald Trump’s comment about Hezbollah being “very smart” as a “huge mistake,” but said that he was on “the right track.”

“Yeah, that was a huge mistake. If I were President Trump, I’d talk about being the strongest president for Israel in modern times. He issued a statement two days ago, ‘I stand with Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu], I stand with Israel.’

“Yeah, it was a mistake. But he’s on the right track,” Graham told “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

But last Sunday — the day after the Hamas attack on Israel — a report from The Washington Post read, Secretary of State Antony “Blinken and other top diplomats [on Oct. 8] worked the phones, calling officials across the region to pass messages to Hezbollah telling the group not to attack Israel.”

The Post’s report may have spoken to Trump’s concerns that the Biden administration was telegraphing Israel’s vulnerabilities.

On Wednesday, “Hezbollah fired antitank missiles at an Israeli military position,” according to the New York Post.

That evening, during a Trump rally, the former president suggested as much that the Biden administration telegraphed Israel’s vulnerability.

“And then there was the inevitable attack four days later” on Israel by Hamas, Trump told a crowd of supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, “which I predicted. And then two nights ago, I read all of Biden’s security people — can you imagine, national defense people — and they said, ‘Gee, I hope Hezbollah doesn’t attack from the north because that’s the most vulnerable spot.’

“I said, ‘Wait a minute you know Hezbollah is very smart; they’re all very smart.'”

Following Trump’s comment describing Hezbollah as “very smart,” the former president faced an onslaught of criticisms from politicians, including Republican presidential candidates Ron DeSantis and Chris Christie.

Later, Trump’s campaign responded on X to a DeSantis post and stated that Trump was pointing out the incompetence of the Biden administration.

“President Trump was clearly pointing out how incompetent Biden and his administration were by telegraphing to the terrorists an area that is susceptible to an attack,” the post read. “‘Smart’ does not equal good. It just proves Biden is stupid. And now you look stupid, Ron.”