Scarborough rips Trump for praising Hezbollah: ‘Out of his mind’

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough tore into former President Trump over his comments Wednesday praising the terrorist organization Hezbollah.

“Out of his mind, I mean, praising Hezbollah, just like he praised [Russia President] Vladimir Putin, said he was brilliant … after the invasion of Ukraine,” Scarborough said on his program Thursday morning. “All the praise that he’s had for President Xi [Jinping] and China always talking about what a brilliant man he is. Same thing, of course, with the tyrannical leader of North Korea.”

“You know, out of his mind,” he added.

Trump, during a stump speech Wednesday, said Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, is “very smart, they’re all very smart.”

The former president also questioned intelligence failures in Israel that led to the massacre carried out by Hamas militants in the country over the weekend.

“So when I see sometimes the intelligence, … you talk about the intelligence or you talk about some of the things that went wrong over the last week, they’ve got to straighten it out because they’re fighting, potentially a very big force,” Trump said.

Scarborough, a frequent Trump critic, said the fact that “Republicans are embracing this guy is just absolutely crazy.”

“That’s your Republican Party right there. That’s that’s your Republican Party,” he said. “That’s the guy who is in first place in the Republican contest to be the next presidential nominee for the GOP.”

“While you have two people that are the leaders running for Speaker and who still can’t tell you who won the 2020 election,” he added. “It’s absolutely crazy.”

Trump also took flack from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), seen as one of his closest rivals in the 2024 presidential race.

“Terrorists have murdered at least 1,200 Israelis and 22 Americans and are holding more hostage, so it is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, much less praise Hezbollah terrorists as ‘very smart,’ DeSantis wrote Wednesday in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Members of President Biden’s team also condemned Trump’s comments.

Fighting in the Gaza region continued Thursday between Hamas militants, who launched a surprise attack over the weekend, and Israel, which has vowed retaliation.

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