Israel war: Pence rejects Trump’s characterization of Hezbollah as ‘very smart’ and says it is ‘evil’

Former Vice President Mike Pence rejected former President Donald Trump’s characterization of the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah as “very smart” on Thursday and claimed the group was “evil.”

Pence commented that there was no other message the United States should be sharing right now than that it stands with Israel after the terrorist organization Hamas launched a surprise attack against the Middle Eastern country on Saturday.

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“Hezbollah aren’t smart, they’re evil,” Pence told WGIR radio in New Hampshire on Thursday. “This is no time for the former president or any other American leader to be sending any message other than America stands with Israel. And look, I know the former president was frustrated with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu; he’s been critical over the last two years.”

Pence added, “But the former president also said when Russia invaded Ukraine in a similar, unprovoked, unconscionable invasion a year-and-a-half ago, he said Vladimir Putin was a genius.”

The former president’s campaign hit back at Trump’s critics on social media Thursday, slamming Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who is competing for the GOP nomination, after he called Trump’s comments “absurd,” especially for “someone running for president.”

“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,” Trump’s war room posted to X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter. “Smart does not equal good. It just proves Biden is stupid. And now you look stupid, Ron.”

Pence’s comments come after he slammed Trump, DeSantis, and presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy for having a weak stance on the country’s role in the world Sunday.

“I believe this is what happens when we have leading voices like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Ron DeSantis signaling retreat from America’s role as leader of the free world,” Pence claimed. “I look — what happened in Ukraine was an unprovoked invasion by Russia. What happened this weekend was an unprovoked invasion by Hamas in Israel. I really believe, now more than ever, both the debate within the Republican Party and the debate within America is whether or not we’re going to once again stand without apology as the leader of the free world as the arsenal of democracy.”

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Pence said that when he is president, he will lead through “American strength.” Pence’s foreign policy stance has been compared to the late President Ronald Reagan, who had a foreign policy brand of “peace through strength.”

Israel declared war on Hamas over the weekend after the group’s surprise attack. The war has resulted in the deaths of at least 2,500 people on the two sides combined after Israel conducted its counterattack. Among the dead are 27 Americans, and 14 remain unaccounted for.