Bacon’s comments come days after Trump announced an agreement with Putin in which Russia would supply several million tons of diesel to the U.S.
A Republican member of Congress is unloading on Donald Trump for cozying up to Vladimir Putin as the Russian dictator continues his assault on Ukraine.
“I have righteous anger, and it’s palpable anger on this whole thing,” Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska told National Review Wednesday in a brief interview. “I can’t believe we’ve got a president that is literally kissing Putin’s ass. He’s a Republican. Ronald Reagan’s rolling around in his grave.”
Bacon, who is retiring at the end of this term but has said he is mulling a presidential run in 2028, also predicted that, unless the administration radically changes its posture on the Russia-Ukraine war, Trump will have a difficult time passing his priorities, such as funding for his planned ballroom, arch, and supplemental defense spending.
“I don’t really trust him with our money,” Bacon said. “He’s going to have to make a 180 turn and recover from this.”
Bacon’s comments come days after Trump announced an agreement with Putin in which Russia would supply several million tons of diesel to the United States. That agreement has drawn bipartisan backlash in Congress, as Trump has pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky not to attack Russian oil refineries. A group of 12 senators, which includes six Republicans, sent a letter to Trump urging him to back out of the deal.
Ukraine also reportedly lost access temporarily to Starlink, an internet system that it uses to communicate on the battlefield, as Russia pounded the country’s energy infrastructure early Wednesday morning. Ukrainian officials are said to believe Washington was behind the Starlink throttling, although the country’s defense minister has said connectivity has been restored.
In his second term, Trump has treated Russia and Ukraine with varying degrees of warmness, alternating between berating and cajoling Zelensky and Putin in an effort to force the two leaders to the negotiating table. Bacon has long been critical of what he sees as a lack of an adequate commitment from the Trump administration to helping Ukraine win the war.
“We have a president — I can’t believe it’s a Republican president — that is totally duped by Putin,” he said.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Bacon and other pro-Ukraine Republicans have found the timing of the diesel deal especially difficult to stomach. It came less than a month after Congress passed a law that allowed the president to sanction countries that import diesel from Russia — a move meant to help Ukraine’s war effort.
“He’s morally blind in this whole area,” Bacon said of Trump. “Congress passed overwhelmingly that we wanted sanctions, and the president’s putting his thumb in our eye, saying he’s going to do just the opposite.”
Bacon said that other pro-Ukraine Republicans in Congress are also upset by Trump’s recent moves. Representative Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania said last week that he would introduce the “Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Act,” which would block American purchases of Russian diesel. Fitzpatrick added that he would force a vote on the bill in the House of Representatives through a discharge petition.
The anger many Ukraine supporters in Congress are feeling may make it hard for Trump to pass party-line legislation following the midterm elections.
“I’m on a daily text with a group of Republicans who feel the same way, and he only has a three-vote margin in the House,” Bacon said.
Democrats are likely to take at least one chamber in next month’s elections, and some Republicans have floated attempting to force through a third budget reconciliation bill, which can circumvent the Senate filibuster to pass fiscal priorities, in November and December before they officially lose the majority. It’s unclear whether they would actually try to pass a bill, but Bacon said the administration’s Russia posture will make it difficult. That could endanger supplemental funding for the military as it is engaged in hostilities with Iran.
“I’m sort of a kindred spirit on this. I want our military to be stronger,” said Bacon. “But why should we give money to an administration that’s kissing Putin’s ass?”
In addition to potential party-line bills, Congress will have several pieces of legislation it will need to pass on a bipartisan basis before the end of the year, including appropriations bills to prevent a government shutdown before funding expires on December 11. Bacon predicted the Russia moves could impact those negotiations.
“It weakens the president’s hand significantly,” he said.