The Gaza war and the anti-Israel demonstrations at U.S. college campuses both magnify the leadership contrast between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, according to Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
Appearing on Hugh Hewitt's podcast Tuesday, Cotton criticized Biden for failing to support Israel against Hamas immediately following the terrorists' invasion and massacre on Oct. 7.
"If he had simply backed Israel to the hilt, made it clear we were going to do so, Israel would have had the freedom of action to destroy Hamas more quickly and the civilian suffering in Gaza would have ended sooner rather than later," Cotton told Hewitt.
"By protracting this war, Joe Biden’s only made things worse in Gaza."
Cotton said Trump's reelection in November, when he’s expected to oppose Biden in the general election, would benefit Israel greatly.
"With Donald Trump, we had peace and stability because he was a strong president and we were viewed as a strong nation," Cotton told Hewitt. "So, when he is president, I am confident that Israel will have the full American backing to do what’s necessary to defend its people."
The senator also said the on-campus anti-Israel protests would be handled differently under a Trump administration.
"Joe Biden will not take action, for instance, to stop these protesters who have set up this disgusting, rat-infested little Gaza on George Washington [University] where they are defacing statues of President Washington with terrorist headdresses and spray paint,” Cotton said.
"Donald Trump, like those frat boys at UNC [the University of North Carolina], will take the steps necessary to defend the American flag, to restore law and order, to exhibit strength at home, just like he will abroad, to make sure that law-abiding Americans … can go about their business."
During the interview, Cotton said he has told Trump he’s "too modest" when he talks about this war in Gaza or the war in Ukraine.
"He said it wouldn’t have happened on his watch," Cotton told Hewitt. "He doesn’t have to use the conditional. He can say, It didn’t happen on my watch, and will not happen again on my watch because [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, to put it very bluntly, was scared of what Trump would do if he invaded Ukraine again.
"He [Putin] invaded when Barack Obama was president. He invaded when Joe Biden was president. He didn't do it when Donald Trump was president, in part because Donald Trump is the one who started arming the Ukrainians.
"Likewise, Iran did not unleash this region-wide acts of terror against Israel and from Gaza, missile attacks from the Houthis into the Red Sea and now out into the Indian Ocean, pretty steady attacks from Hezbollah and Lebanon into Israel. These things did not happen under Donald Trump."
Biden, according to Cotton, is "like an elephant who has seen a mouse and jumped up on a table" when it comes to Putin, Iran or Hamas.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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