A Republican lawmaker took a shot at President Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon, telling CNN anchor Jake Tapper the party wants to see a "stronger Trump" when it comes to his dealings with Russia.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) joined Tapper to discuss Trump's upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which the White House has downplayed as a "listening exercise."
Bacon advised Trump not to exchange Ukrainian land for peace, and said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ought to be seated at the table as well.
"It's too reminiscent of 1938 when the prime minister of Great Britain and the leader of France met with Hitler and, you know, gave away Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia, and came back and said, 'peace in our time.'"
Bacon said Trump needs to demand that Zelensky be at the table.
"We can't be giving concessions to Russia and rewarding an invasion and bombing cities, committing all these war crimes that Putin has done. And so I hope we see a Trump that we've seen in the last month, not the President Trump that we've seen the first seven or eight months of his presidency, where I thought he was way too weak on Putin. And so what we want to see is a stronger Trump standing up for freedom and standing on the right side of this war," he said.
Bacon later laid into Vice President JD Vance after Vance said he thinks Trump and America are "done with the funding of the Ukraine war business."
"We want to bring about a peaceful settlement to this thing. We want to stop the killing. But Americans, I think, are sick of continuing to send their money, their tax dollars, to this particular conflict," said Vance.
Bacon minced no words in breaking with Vance.
"I think he's wrong," said Bacon. "First of all, I take offense when he says we're tired of sending money to the Ukrainian war business or something like that. This is not Ukrainian war business. This is the Russian invading Ukraine. An innocent sovereign country. That's the war right now. This isn't Ukraine's war. This is Russia's invasion of Ukraine."
Bacon said Vance "seems to not have the moral clarity to see that."
"And it bothers me. And by the way, two out of three Americans support Ukraine. These guys are taking a political stand that most — we're the defenders of freedom. America is that bright light on the hill. And we should act that way," he added.
Bacon urged Vance and Trump to change their tune.
"We need a president or Vice President Vance's leadership here, not moral weakness," he concluded.
Watch the clip below or at this link.
