Here’s a sample of Trump critics gone off the charts, this headline from the Christian Post:

Trump sparks backlash over comments calling Hezbollah ‘very smart’

The story reports:

The former president recalled reacting to the concerns about a Hezbollah attack by thinking that “Hezbollah’s very smart” and mocked the idea that Biden administration officials would make Israel’s enemies aware of its national security weaknesses. He acknowledged that “the press doesn’t like when [I] say that” as well as when he makes similar characterizations about Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Astonishingly the story quotes former Vice President Mike Pence — who should know better — as saying:

Hezbollah are not smart; they’re evil.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, like Pence a Trump competitor for the 2024 GOP nomination, was quoted as saying:

[For Trump to] be saying that Hezbollah, talking about how smart they are, just doesn’t make any sense.

The Washington Post reported:

Trump’s comments reflected his long-established pattern of slighting U.S. allies while complimenting adversaries such as Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

And Mediaite reported this from Kaitlan Collins and her interview with Pence:

COLLINS: Trump also praised the Iran-backed militant group, Hezbollah, as very smart. Do you think he understands the difference between good and evil?

PENCE: Hezbollah is not very smart. Hezbollah is evil. And again, we —

COLLINS: Does Trump understand that?

Then, too, there was this from ex–New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, also running against Trump, repeatedly calling Trump a “fool” for saying the truth:

A Chris Christie super PAC dropped a new ad on Monday, in which the former New Jersey Governor excoriated former President Donald Trump over his recent comments about Hezbollah.

As first reported by Politico Playbook, the 60-second spot — produced by Tell It Like It Is, the Christie-affiliated super PAC — features the former governor trashing Trump for calling Hezbollah “very smart,” during a speech last Wednesday in Florida.

There was more of this kind of nonsense out there, but you get the picture.

One can only shake one’s head at the utter lack of historical knowledge on display by all these Trump critics. Where to begin? Let’s start with the literal dictionary definition of smart.

Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines smart as:

having or showing a high degree of mental ability : INTELLIGENT, BRIGHT

Note well: There is no connection whatsoever — zero — between the definition of “smart” and the concepts of good, bad, or indifferent, much less any tie between “smart” and “evil.”

What is particularly astonishing here with all of these people is, as mentioned, the utter lack of knowledge about the truly evil figures in world history — and, specifically, that these people were hardly dumb.

Here’s but a small list of some of the most-evil people who have walked the earth: Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and Mao Zedong, and, in our own time, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

To a person, these people were (or are, in the case of Putin, Xi, and Kim) the personification of evil. They were/are mass murderers, bullies, ego maniacs. But dumb? Not a one of them. Not a prayer. All of them had the serious smarts to start at the bottom of the power ladder in their respective countries and, through constant thought, maneuvering, manipulating, and seriously brutal tactics — up to and including murder — reach the top of their country’s power pyramid.

Every last one of them were — or, if in power today, are — smart. Too underestimate them — especially for a president of the United States to do so — can be fatal.

And Trump’s acknowledgement that a Putin, Xi, Kim, or, in the current situation, Hezbollah is “smart” is itself smart. Which is to say that Trump is no fool who is taken in by ignoring the reality of who these people really are. If nothing else, one of the reasons for Trump’s success in the business world is his ability to judge the kind of person sitting across from him in a negotiation — are they smart? — and, having made his assessment, act accordingly.

The real danger in the current situation is to behave precisely as Trump’s critics are behaving — to completely underestimate America’s enemies, to think them dumb, stupid, and not “smart.”

Particularly disturbing is that criticizing Trump for accurately assessing the capability of an American enemy sends a message to those American enemies that the people saying these things are themselves not very smart.

Which is exactly how America and the world wind up watching Russian troops marching into Ukraine or Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran moving to destroy Israel. It happens because they see American leadership as weak — and dumb.

And to have Republican presidential candidates sign on to the idea that America’s enemies are dumb is to openly invite those enemies to respond precisely because they are, as former President Trump has said, “very smart.” And if they weren’t very smart, it’s safe to say they would never be where they are right this minute.

Not good. Not good at all.