‘Mental Decline or Dishonesty?’ Critics Roast Trump For Claiming He Went to Gaza — And Odd Campaign Explanation

(Photo by zz/Andrea Renault/STAR MAX/IPx)

Former President Donald Trump claimed on Monday that he had been to Gaza during an interview with Hugh Hewitt, a claim a source in the campaign later told the New York Times was true as Trump has been to Israel and Gaza is in Israel. The Times report quickly went viral online as critics pounced on the gaffe.

Hewitt, a prominent conservative radio host, asked Trump during the interview if he believed Gaza could “be Monaco if it was rebuilt the right way? Could someone make Gaza into something that all the Palestinian people would be proud of, would want to live in, would benefit them?”

“It could be better than Monaco. It has the best location in the Middle East, the best water, the best everything. It’s got, it is the best, I’ve said it for years. You know when — I’ve been there, and it’s rough. It’s a rough place, before the, you know, before all of the attacks and before the back and forth what’s happened over the last couple of years,” Trump replied.

New York Times political reporter Maggie Haberman reached out to the campaign and reported , “Asked later what Mr. Trump was referring to when he said he had ‘been there,’ a Trump campaign official did not provide a comment on the record. Speaking only on the condition of anonymity, the official said, ‘Gaza is in Israel. President Trump has been to Israel.’” Of course, Israel does not claim any sovereignty over Gaza and pulled out of the territory entirely in 2005.

Trump’s interview with Hewitt sparked several headlines as he claimed that migrants with “bad genes” were in the U.S. and that he would deal with them. Trump also raised eyebrows for saying , on the one-year anniversary of the October 7th terror attack, that Jewish Americans were not grateful enough for what he did for Israel.

Trump also sparked viral backlash online for asking a rabbi if he would like him to sign a Jewish prayer book while visiting the gravesite of Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

Below are some reactions to Trump’s gaffe and the campaign’s explanation to it:

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