“Smoke Those Terrorists”: GOP Candidates Compete to Be Biggest Israel Hawk

Not a single Republican presidential candidate thinks Benjamin Netanyahu has gone far enough in his assault on Gaza.

During the Republican presidential debate on Wednesday, each candidate was asked what advice they would give the Israeli prime minister if they were president right now.

“I would tell Bibi finish the job once and for all with these butchers Hamas,” said Ron DeSantis. “I’m sick of hearing the media, I’m sick of hearing other people blame Israel just for defending itself. We will stand with Israel, in word and in deed, in private and in public.”

“Would you consider humanitarian pause?” NBC moderator Lester Holt then asked Nikki Haley.

“The first thing I said to [Netanyahu] when it happened was I said, ‘Finish them. Finish them,’” she replied, before stressing that we need to “support Israel with whatever they need whenever they need it.”

Vivek Ramaswamy went even further: “What I would tell Bibi is that Israel has the right and the responsibility to defend itself. I would tell him to smoke those terrorists on the southern border. And I would tell him as president of the United States I’ll be smoking the terrorists on our southern border.”

“You have the responsibility and right to wipe Hamas off the map and we will be with you,” added Tim Scott. “I would say to Biden diplomacy only is a weak strategy. Appeasement leads to war.”

The South Carolina senator went on to blame the conflict on Joe Biden and Barack Obama’s diplomacy with Iran—and argue for strikes on the country.

“There is blood dripping from the hands of President Obama and President Biden, he said. “You actually have to cut off the head of the snake, and the head of the snake is Iran and not simply their proxies.… You cannot negotiate with evil. You have to destroy it.”

Christie, for his part, at least noted that it is essential to work with both sides to resolve the conflict, but he too called for supporting Israel. “The first thing I would say to Prime Minister Netanyahu is pretty simple: America is here no matter what it is you need at any time to preserve the state of Israel.”

Vivek Ramaswamy kicked off the GOP’s third presidential debate with a flurry of insane back-to-back comments Wednesday night.

“We’ve become a party of losers,” Ramaswamy lamented, referring to conservatives’ sweeping loss during Tuesday’s off-year elections in Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.

In the same breath, Ramaswamy demanded someone take responsibility for the failure, calling for the resignation of the party’s chairman, Ronna McDaniel.

The entrepreneur then continued to attack the NBC moderators, proposing that they should be replaced by Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk—for ratings’ sake.

Ramaswamy also lobbed an accusation at NBC News anchor Kristen Welker, calling her a member of the “corrupt media establishment,” before throwing one last bomb into his two-minute answer by insisting the 2020 presidential election was rigged.

Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would consider picking Tucker Carlson as his running mate, revealing a potential ticket of your worst nightmares.

During an interview on the conservative podcast The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show, the eponymous hosts asked Trump if he would consider Carlson for vice president.

“I like Tucker a lot! I guess I would, I think I say I would,” Trump said. “He’s got great common sense.”

Trump, the Republican front-runner, does seem to genuinely like Carlson. Trump has refused to participate in the primary debates, and during the first one, he chose to air an interview with Carlson instead. Trump apparently also decided to take the Covid-19 pandemic seriously after Carlson urged him to do so.

But it’s unclear how the pair’s dynamic would work in the long run. When Fox was sued by Dominion Voting Systems, the electronic voting machine maker released troves of personal messages sent by the network’s on-screen talent. Among them were messages from Carlson proclaiming just how much he hates Trump.

Just two days before January 6, 2021, the erstwhile Fox host texted someone about Trump’s time in office. “We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest,” Carlson said. “But come on. There really isn’t an upside to Trump.”

Carlson also said that Trump was only good at “destroying things.”

“We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait,” he texted, adding, “I hate him passionately.”

Republicans—and 22 Democrats—voted to censure Representative Rashida Tlaib on Tuesday, formally reprimanding the Michigan Democrat for her vocal support of a cease-fire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. But was what she said any more inflammatory than the GOP’s own rhetoric around the war?

Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, drew the ire of the Republican caucus for attending an October 17 Jewish-led sit-in on Capitol Hill calling for peace between Israel and Palestine. Since then, Republicans have called Tlaib a terrorist and claimed she promotes the destruction of Israel. They’ve also lambasted her for describing the chant “from the river to the sea” as an “aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence.”

Here are some of the things her Republican colleagues have said:

Max Miller: “We’re going to turn that into a parking lot.”

In an October interview with The Ingraham Angle, Ohio Representative Max Miller attacked the presence of a Palestinian flag outside Tlaib’s office while glibly suggesting that the nation would be “eviscerated.”

“I don’t even want to call it the Palestinian flag because they’re not a state, they’re a territory, that’s about to probably get eviscerated and go away here shortly, as we’re going to turn that into a parking lot,” Miller said.

“For once, can people say they condemn calls to completely wipe out Palestinians? It shouldn’t be hard to condemn genocidal rhetoric,” slapped back Representative Ilhan Omar, retweeting Miller’s comments.

Brian Mast compared Palestinians to “Nazi civilians.”

Last week, Florida Representative Brian Mast compared “Palestinian civilians” to “Nazi civilians.”

“There is not this far stretch to say there are very few innocent Palestinian civilians,” Mast said on the House floor last Wednesday.

A Democratic resolution to censure Mast has been put on hold.

Lindsey Graham: “Level the place.”

Republicans on the other side of Congress have proved equally incendiary in their analysis of the conflict. In an appearance on Fox News’s Hannity, Senator Lindsey Graham said that Israel should “level the place.”

“We’re in a religious war here. I am with Israel,” Graham said. “Do whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourself. Level the place.”

During a segment on CNN’s NewsNight earlier this month, Graham said there’s “no limit” to the amount of civilian deaths that would lead him to question Israel’s military directive.

Tom Cotton: Israel can “bounce the rubble in Gaza.”

In an interview with Shannon Beam on Fox News Sunday, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton argued that the mass-bombing of Palestinian women and children is a justified counterattack since Hamas militants attacked women and children in the October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

“As far as I’m concerned, Israel can bounce the rubble in Gaza,” Cotton said, voicing his support should the U.S. ally choose to assault already devastated areas.

This is nowhere near a comprehensive list—and none of these members have been censured. Republicans have also taken their opinions a step further, rallying behind a bill introduced last week by Representative Ryan Zinke that would revoke the visas and refugee status of a number of Palestinians living in the U.S.

In the month since Hamas militants killed 1,400 Israeli civilians in the October 7 massacre, more than 10,000 Palestinian lives have been lost in the conflict, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Ivanka Trump testified Wednesday in her family’s New York business fraud trial. But before she took the stand, protesters outside the courthouse made their feelings about her clear.

Ivanka was initially listed as a co-defendant in the lawsuit alongside her father and brothers when New York Attorney General Letitia James filed the suit in September 2022. But an appeals court dismissed the claims against her in June, ruling that the statute of limitations on her alleged involvement had run out.

The oldest Trump daughter was still called to testify about the Trump Organization’s business practices, though. As she walked up to the courthouse, a crowd of protesters began to chant, “Crime family!”

Trump did not acknowledge the protesters, who continued to chant as she entered the building. Once she took the stand, she promptly had to explain an email exchange that undermined her family’s entire defense.

James accused Donald Trump and his allies of fraudulently inflating the value of their real estate assets to get more favorable terms on bank loans. She alleges that Trump claimed his Trump Tower apartment in Manhattan was three times its actual size and worth $327 million. No New York City apartment has ever sold for that much.

He also valued Mar-a-Lago far more than its actual worth. Presiding Judge Arthur Engoron noted in October that Trump’s estimates went as high as 2,300 percent more than the Palm Beach County tax appraiser’s valuation.

The trial is only to set damages, because Judge Arthur Engoron determined in September that Trump committed fraud. Engoron ordered that all Trump’s New York business certificates be canceled, making it nearly impossible to do business in the state and effectively killing the Trump Organization.

Ivanka Trump was forced Wednesday, during her family’s New York business fraud trial, to explain an email exchange that could undo their entire defense.

Donald Trump’s oldest daughter took the stand to testify about the Trump Organization’s business practices. Ivanka Trump was presented with an email conversation she had with one of the company’s lawyers.

The lawyer, Jason Greenblatt, was worried about a 2012 deal with Deutsche Bank for the purchase of the Doral golf club in Miami, which required Donald Trump to maintain a minimum net worth of $3 billion. This requirement “would seem to me to be a problem?” he asked Ivanka.

Ivanka replied this was something they “have known from day one. We wanted to get a great rate and the only way to get the proceeds/term and principle where we want them is to guarantee the deal.”

Another email related to the Doral deal makes clear that her father’s financials were a big part of securing the purchase. “My father will also send you his most recent financial statement by hard mail,” she wrote in an email with the subject line “Doral.”

This exchange speaks directly to New York Attorney General Letitia James’s main accusation that Trump and his allies fraudulently inflated the value of their real estate assets to get more favorable terms on bank loans. Greenblatt was concerned that Trump would struggle to prove and maintain a net worth of at least $3 billion. But Ivanka didn’t seem worried.

In the Doral deal, Ivanka eventually got the requirement for Trump’s net worth lowered to $2.5 billion, but that’s still far higher than what James estimates Trump’s net worth actually was at the time of the purchase in 2012.

Trump himself effectively admitted Monday that the organization’s financial statements were made with an eye to encourage favorable loans. The New York attorney general’s office revealed that Trump had signed financial documents intended to look good for banks.

The trial, which is only to set damages, has not been going well for Trump. He has been grasping at straws in an attempt to avoid accountability, using an argument the presiding judge has already deemed “worthless” and incorrectly insisting he was president in 2021.

Judge Arthur Engoron already determined in September that Trump committed fraud. Engoron ordered that all Trump’s New York business certificates be canceled, making it nearly impossible to do business in the state and effectively killing the Trump Organization.

The lawsuit alleges that Trump claimed his Trump Tower apartment in Manhattan was three times its actual size and worth $327 million. No New York City apartment has ever sold for that much. He also valued Mar-a-Lago at $739 million, about 10 times its actual worth.

One day after 22 House Democrats voted alongside Republicans to censure Representative Rashida Tlaib for voicing support for a cease-fire in Gaza, the blue party also decided to pull its own censure resolution against Florida Representative Brian Mast, who compared “Palestinian civilians” to “Nazi civilians.”

Mast received blowback for comments he made on the House floor last Wednesday, saying he would “encourage the other side to not so lightly throw around the idea of ‘innocent Palestinian civilians,’ as is frequently said. I don’t think we would so lightly throw around the term ‘innocent Nazi civilians’ during World War II.”

“There is not this far stretch to say there are very few innocent Palestinian civilians,” Mast said.

That was enough for Representative Sara Jacobs to put Mast in the hot seat, drafting her own censure resolution against the Florida congressman on Monday.

Two days later, however, a Democratic aide familiar with the legislation told The Hill that the legislation has been dropped for now. The source added that Jacobs is still working with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on what the timing on the bill should be.

Meanwhile, nearly two dozen Democrats voted with Republicans to censure Rashida Tlaib in a late-night vote on Tuesday.

In the month since Hamas militants killed 1,400 Israeli civilians in the October 7 massacre, more than 10,000 Palestinian lives have been lost in the conflict, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The Biden administration has urged the Israeli government to avoid civilian casualties but has so far rejected calls for a cease-fire in the region. Meanwhile, the White House has also called for emergency aid to Israel as part of a $105 billion national security package that includes military and humanitarian assistance to U.S. allies around the world, including Ukraine and Taiwan.

Those decisions have decimated Biden’s popularity among Arab American voters, with support plummeting from 59 percent to 17 percent since the presidential election, according to a poll by the Arab American Institute.

“Something horrible is happening to these people, and this administration is turning a blind eye to it,” James Zogby, the group’s president, told Democracy Now! “There are going to be electoral consequences.”

Iowa chapters of the far-right group Moms for Liberty endorsed 13 candidates in school board races across the state. Only one was elected.

The Tuesday loss is a stinging rebuke of Moms for Liberty, a “parental rights” organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center designated as an extremist group. What happened in Iowa mimics similar defeats suffered by the group and by Republicans in general throughout the U.S.

In Iowa, the only Moms for Liberty candidate who won was Nathan Gibson. He was elected school director for the Interstate 35 district, a rural district with fewer than 1,000 students.

Moms for Liberty was founded in 2021 to push back against Covid-19 restrictions in schools. It has since expanded to opposing classes on diversity, curbing the rights of LGBTQ students, and banning books.

But on Tuesday, voters across the country pushed back on the Moms for Liberty agenda. The organization endorsed more than 130 candidates across the country, and the vast majority of them lost—with some failing to get more than single-digit support.

All four Moms for Liberty-backed candidates in Minnesota lost, as did all four in Washington state. The group endorsed 19 candidates for school boards in New Jersey, but only four won.

Moms for Liberty backed 25 candidates throughout Ohio, but just five were elected. And of the six candidates the group endorsed in Virginia, only one won her race.

Voters issued similar rebukes to the Republican Party in general. Ohioans also voted overwhelmingly Tuesday night to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution, despite the state GOP making multiple desperate attempts to prevent such an outcome. In Virginia, Democrats took control of both the state House and Senate in a stunning upset.

This story has been updated.

Conservatives reeled in shock and awe Tuesday night as traditionally red states voted blue in their off-year elections, defying polls over one key issue: abortion rights.

Abortion was a linchpin issue in states like Ohio, Kentucky, and Virginia, where voters showed up en masse to steer their options toward access. Yet for many Republicans, the results came as a surprise. Despite a swath of polling results that indicated Americans increasingly view abortion access as an essential right, Republicans geared their hopes on polls hinting at sinking morale among Democrats under President Joe Biden’s leadership.

“Kentucky is a red state. Ohio is a red state,” Kayleigh McEnany said on Fox News’s Hannity. “Tonight, the midterm elections, the last few elections, we must recognize as a party, good polling does not always translate into resounding victory.”

“On the issue of abortion, in Ohio tonight, we continue a losing streak in the pro-life movement. Every ballot initiative has been lost post-Dobbs for the pro-life movement,” McEnany said.

McEnany also pointed out that conservatives won’t win women back on this issue until conservatives get behind initiatives to bolster young mothers.

“As a party, Sean, we must not just be a pro-baby party. That’s a great thing. We must be a pro-mother party,” McEnany said.

“There’s legislation we must put forward as a party to support women,” McEnany added. “We’ve got to get Trump behind it, the speaker of the House behind it, and have a national strategy to help vulnerable women because the results of next year’s election could be determined by that.”

Sean Hannity himself conceded that although he’s pro-life, he “recognize[s] that’s not where the country is.”

“Voters vote, polls don’t,” a Biden-Harris fundraising email noted after the results began to roll in.

Former Senator Rick Santorum complained that the major election losses Republicans suffered are actually a sign of how “pure democracies” are a bad form of government.

Republicans faced devastating losses on Tuesday, as voters in Ohio overwhelmingly chose to legalize marijuana and enshrine abortion rights in the state Constitution. In Virginia, Democrats flipped the state House of Representatives, taking control of the entire legislature. While abortion was not explicitly on the ballot, the future of reproductive rights in Virginia hinged on which party controlled the government.

“You put very sexy things like abortion and marijuana on the ballot, and a lot of young people come out and vote. It was a secret sauce for disaster in Ohio,” Santorum whined Tuesday night on Newsmax.

“Thank goodness that most of the states in this country don’t allow you to put everything on the ballot, because pure democracies are not the way to run a country.”

Putting aside Santorum’s weird choice of descriptor (sexy, really?), his actual complaint is laughable. Santorum is upset that democracy is working.

As Republicans across the country try to push more extreme agendas, many issues such as protecting abortion, legalizing marijuana, and raising the minimum wage are being put forward for ballot referendums. Republicans lose those votes every time.

But rather than take the actual lesson here and start proposing policies that voters like, Republicans are digging their heels in. Take, for instance, Santorum’s other gripe, that young voters turned out because the issues were “sexy” (again, ugh).

Maybe young voters didn’t want to just hop on some social trend. Maybe young voters actually care about protecting their rights.