Donald Trump tore into radio host Hugh Hewitt as a "third-rate radio announcer" on Friday after the Republican presidential candidate struggled to answer a question about the leaders of major terrorist groups the previous day.

The move followed a familiar script for the real estate mogul who has unexpectedly soared to the top of the Republican presidential polls: When backed into a corner, go on the attack and change the headlines.


Responding to a question about his views on the Iran deal and the country's elite Quds Force from The Washington Post's David Ignatius on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Trump took the opportunity to take a shot at the California-based radio personality who will, incidentally, be asking questions at the next GOP debate on Sept. 16.

"And by the way, when you say Quds vs. Kurds, I thought he said Kurds, this third-rate radio announcer that I did the show [for]. It was like 'gotcha, gotcha.' Every question was, do I know this one and that one. You know, he worked hard on that. I thought he said Kurds," Trump said. "By the way, I do think the Kurds, while we're on it, I do think the Kurds are not being utilized properly and not being treated properly by us."

Hewitt, in a statement to POLITICO, said he thought many of Trump's answers were "excellent," but that "we disagree on what constitutes a 'gotcha' question."

"DT has been my guest four times in the past 30 days and I hope he keeps coming back," Hewitt said, referring to Trump. "Best interview in America. But I won't change my debate prep or question set because of his or others critiques or praise. I ask questions that I think many GOP primary voters are interested in, whether of DT or all the other GOPers. Others interviewed this week include Christie, Graham, Huckabee, Rubio and Walker as well as Fiorina twice. They all get tough questions with some overlap and some new ones each time."

Hewitt, on his show on Thursday, asked Trump, “I’m looking for the next commander in chief, to know who Hassan Nasrallah is, and Zawahiri, and al-Julani, and al-Baghdadi. Do you know the players without a scorecard, yet, Donald Trump?” The refereneces to the respective leaders of Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State appeared to stump Trump.

“No," Trump said.

"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 said. “I knew you were going to ask me things like this, and there’s no reason, because, No. 1, I’ll find, I will hopefully find Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the pack.”

Trump, by going on the attack on Friday, is taking on another major figure in conservative media, after aggressively insulting Fox News host Megyn Kelly in the wake of last month's presidential debate. While some had predicted the feud with Kelly and Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes would be Trump's undoing, it appears only to have empowered him.

Trump also found at least some support from GOP rival Rand Paul, telling Sirius XM, "I also do think that running through a list of every different Arabic name and asking somebody to respond to them is maybe a little bit of a game of 'gotcha.'"

Paul went on to say, "But I do think knowing the difference between Hamas and Hezbollah, knowing the difference between Shiites and Sunnis, and knowing a little bit of the history, or a significant amount, of the history of what's been going on in the Middle East is important for our next leader. ... I'm not into defending Donald Trump, and you won't find it very often, but I think some interviewers do like to play this game."

But Florida Sen. Marco Rubio had no such sympathy, telling CNN that Trump's answers are "very concerning."

"This should be part of the reason why you are running because you understand the threats that the world is facing, you have deep understanding and you understand what to do about it," he continued, though did not mention Trump by name. "And if someone doesn't, I think it is very concerning."

Speaking Friday on "Morning Joe," Trump again called the Iran deal "disastrous" on several fronts, including the number of Americans who remain imprisoned in the country, the 24-day waiting period allowed for some inspections, among other aspects of the contract "that people aren't even talking about," including one "that we're supposed to essentially come to their defense, the Iranians' defense, and if Israel attacks, where are we?"

"Well, believe me, that'll never happen. But how do they agree to things like this? We have a horrible contract, but we do have a contract. I have, all of my life, I've loved to buy bad contracts when key people go bust, and I make those contracts good. This is a perfect example of taking over a bad contract," Trump said, adding that he recognized the popularity of ripping up the contract, "but life doesn't work that way."

Trump also weighed in on the situation with Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, remarking that same-sex marriage is "the law of the land" and that if Davis is unwilling to grant marriage licenses, someone on her staff should do so.

"I would say, the simple answer is, let her clerks do it," Trump said.