Furious Republican shreds 'weak' Trump over 'embarrassing' gift to Russia

A furious Republican lawmaker and military veteran tore into President Donald Trump during a recent CNN appearance, ripping him for being "weak" and calling his latest troop removal from Eastern Europe an "embarrassing" gift to Russia.

Rep. Don Bacon is a GOP congressman for Nebraska and previously served in the U.S. Air Force for nearly three decades before retiring as a brigadier general. He has emerged as a vocal Republican critic of Trump, repeatedly butting heads with the MAGA wing of the party and joining the opposition to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

On Monday morning, Bacon appeared during a segment on CNN's The Situation Room, where host Wolf Blitzer pressed him about Trump's latest military moves. The congressman reserved particular scorn for the recent announcement that a planned troop deployment to NATO ally Poland was being cancelled. Members of the Trump administration admitted to being "blindsided" by the news, which drew heated criticism from numerous Republicans.

Given its past associations with the Soviet Union and its border with Ukraine, Poland is considered to be particularly vulnerable to military aggression from Russia. Some experts have even argued that it could be a future target for President Vladimir Putin.

During his Monday appearance, Bacon called the opposition to this move a "bipartisan" concern in Congress, and hailed Poland as a "model ally."

"It's a bipartisan concern, and it seems like it's a small minority position within the Pentagon that has the president's ear to do this," Bacon said. "And the vast majority of republicans do not support it, let alone across the aisle with the Democrats. We have received no assurances from the White House or the Pentagon about what is going on here. They're being very secretive [about] what this all means. And it's wrong. It's wrong to Congress. It's also wrong to our ally Poland, who is a model ally. They spend roughly 4.8 percent of their GDP on defense, significantly more than we do. And they've been leading the way and doing the things that we've been asking."

He explained further: "Last year, the Pentagon decided to withdraw an armored brigade from Romania. There's three brigades that were forward deployed. So that took us down to two. Now they're not going to replace the brigade in Poland. So that takes us down to one. So they've removed two out of three. Or in the process of removing two out of three of these armor brigades, it sends a terrible message to Russia. They're giving zero concessions while we're unilaterally withdrawing forces from Eastern Europe. This causes grave concern to Poland, who count on this brigade as a deterrence. Also causes great concern to Lithuania, Latvia, [and] Estonia, who are on the front lines and very vulnerable. If we're going to pull armor brigades out of Eastern Europe, there should be concessions from Russia to do this unilaterally."

Bacon said that the move "looks weak" from Trump, and in "the way it was done with no warning to Poland, it's also embarrassing." He also noted that leaders on the House Armed Services committee are "angered" by the cancellation and are considering future moves to restrict the president's ability to make such decisions, saying that Trump is "forcing our hand."

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