Donald Trump : I will know the difference between Hamas and Hezbollah 'when the time comes

TRUMP 

The Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during his radio interview on Thursday was asked to identify the affiliations of various militant leaders in the Middle East, he says that  the host was asking “a gotcha question”.


Discussing Islamist extremism, conservative talk-radio host Hugh Hewitt told Trump he was looking for the next president to identify the leaders of major militant groups, naming the heads of Islamic State, Hezbollah, al-Qaida and its Nusra Front wing in Syria.

“Do you know the players without a scorecard yet, Donald Trump?” asked Hewitt, who will co-moderate the next official Republican presidential debate on 16 September in California.

“No, you know, I’ll tell you honestly, I think by the time we get to office, they’ll all be changed. They’ll be all gone,” Trump replied.

“The names you just mentioned, they probably won’t even be there in six months or a year,” he added.

Hassan Nasrallah has headed Hezbollah since 1992.

Hewitt pushed Trump on the question, asking him: “So the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas does not matter to you yet, but it will?”

Trump replied: “It will when it’s appropriate. I will know more about it than you know, and believe me, it won’t take me long.”

The billionaire real estate mogul has risen to the top of the polls in a crowded Republican field more than a year before the November 2016 election.

When Hewitt said these were not meant as “gotcha” questions, Trump responded: “Well, it sounded like gotcha. You’re asking me names that, I think it’s somewhat ridiculous, but that’s OK. Go ahead, let’s go.”

Trump added that when it came to individuals: “Of course I don’t know them. I’ve never met them. I haven’t been, you know, in a position to meet them. If, if they’re still there, which is unlikely in many cases, but if they’re still there, I will know them better than I know you.”

Earlier in the interview, Trump brought up the Kurds after being asked about the leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds forces, before adding: “Oh, I thought you said Kurds, Kurds.”

He also confirmed that he owned a gun and a licence to carry a concealed weapon: “All I can tell you is that I am totally a second amendment person, and totally in favour of not doing anything.”

Trump was not the only would-be Republican candidate to slip up on Thursday. Former Texas governor Rick Perry – languishing close to the bottom of the polls – was mocked after he responded to a claim by Trump that he was about to withdraw from the race by saying: “A broken clock is right once a day.”