In a recently released video, Trump criticized the governor of Florida for taking a stance that he felt was not serious and marked an unneeded escalation in rhetoric at a time when a nuclear superpower is carrying out a contentious military operation in Ukraine.
Citing comments DeSantis made in 2022 about the conflict, Trump argued that “such narrow-minded thinking is to blame for decades of unsuccessful diplomacy and ultimately war. Calling Russia a ‘gas station with a a lot of nuclear weapons’ or calling Vladimir Putin an ‘authoritarian petrol station clerk who possesses some legacy nuclear weapons that are from the old Soviet Union’ are exactly the types of simplistic thinking,” Trump claimed.
DeSantis’ dismissive comments about the Russian danger were compared by Trump to those of Romney, a failed presidential candidate.
Trump argued that “people who insist on treating Russia as if it lacks history, culture, or pride relative to the rest of the world, like Mitt Romney and Ron DeSantis, are not only ignorant and foolish, but their attitude also makes it impossible to negotiate a peaceful resolution.”
“This type of neocon rhetoric,” according to Trump, “only increases the chance of deadly nuclear escalation by mocking Russia’s nuclear weapons and implying that Putin should be tried and presumably exterminated as a war criminal.”
Trump also brought up one of DeSantis’ most recent reversals on the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.
“Fundamentally, it exhibits a lack of seriousness, depth, and sophistication regarding the nuances and intricacies of foreign policy,” according to Trump. “As we may be headed toward nuclear conflict, this is not the time for on-the-job training, according to our leaders who brought us to this point.”
“The White House requires a diplomat and a broker of peace. Not someone who repeats mindless talking points that have been used before to gain the endorsement of the inept foreign policy establishment,” Trump added. Trump’s comments on Ukraine were made at a time when DeSantis was trying to avoid taking a position on the global matter.
In an initial statement he sent to Tucker Carlson, DeSantis referred to the Russian-Ukrainian war as a “territorial dispute” and stated that it is not one of the US’s “vital national interests.”
DeSantis has since made an effort to adopt a more reasonable stance on the subject.
“Well, I believe it has been misrepresented. Russia attacked (last year), and that was obviously wrong.” DeSantis told Piers Morgan, “They invaded Crimea and seized that in 2014 — that was wrong.”
DeSantis appears to be attempting to moderate his global stances. DeSantis is not a model of restraint and reality, despite doing a fantastic job as Florida’s governor. BLP has previously covered DeSantis’ ambiguous positions on the Euromaidan Revolution of 2014, where he endorsed the Western-backed overthrow of Viktor Yanukovych, the president of Ukraine.
While DeSantis shares Trump’s fanatical pro-Zionism viewpoint, which is one of his flaws in foreign policy, Trump remains the more principled voice when it comes to reality and restraint. DeSantis symbolizes a more moderate strain of American chauvinism, which must be categorically rejected if the US is to revert to any semblance of sensible foreign policy.
