(Radio Iowa) – Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis says the terror attacks in Israel deserve a swift and lethal response. “They have a responsibility to not just defend themselves, but to use overwhelming force to wipe Hamas off the face of the earth,” DeSantis says. “They’re terrorists. What they are doing it barbaric.” DeSantis, who visited Israel in April, campaigned in northwest Iowa yesterday (Monday).

DeSantis blasted President Biden for hosting a picnic for his staff at the White House this weekend and for a recent prisoner swap that freed five Americans but also gave Iran access to six billion dollars in frozen oil revenue. DeSantis says it means Iran’s leaders can send more money to terror groups like Hamas.

“This is just pathetic,” DeSantis says. “We don’t need a president ‘missing in action.’ We don’t need any more presidents that are past their prime. We need presidents that are actually going to lead and actually do the job, particularly in these crisis situations.” During a stop in Le Mars, DeSantis touted the debate he’s scheduled to have next month on Fox News with California Governor Gavin Newson.

“California’s probably four or five years ahead of where Biden is in terms of going in a leftist direction,” DeSantis says. “A second Biden term or Harris or Newsom or whoever they throw out would basically mimic what California has done and all that will do is facilitate an even quicker decline of our country.” DeSantis says his own record as Florida’s governor since 2019 represents a model for American revival and he says as president he’d bring discipline to federal government spending to get inflation under control.

“You’re paying more for everything because of what the people in Washington, D.C. have done over the last four or five years,” DeSantis says. DeSantis wrapped up a three-day bus tour through Iowa with a stop in Storm
Lake. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley campaigned in Boone yesterday (Monday). Haley, who served as United Nations Ambassador during the Trump Administration, says now is not the time for the U-S to be divided or distracted because Israel should get all it needs to defend itself and destroy the terrorists in its midst. She’s also calling for an end to taxpayer support of any country that sides with Hamas or fails to denounce anti-semetic activity.