A "dark day." A "betrayal." The "biggest mistake of this presidency," and "really delusional."
And that was President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans.
Trump's decision to pull American troops out of northern Syria — triggering a deadly Turkish invasion targeting the U.S.'s erstwhile Syrian Kurdish allies — has unmuzzled GOP lawmakers in a manner seldom seen since Trump entered the White House.
In a time when the threat of a caustic Trump tweet is enough to stifle open internal dissent, the extent and strong language Republicans are using to assail his policy is Syria has been striking.
A statistical measurement of the party's disgruntlement was on eye-catching display in in the House, which voted Wednesday by an overwhelming 354-60 to voice its opposition to Trump's troop pullback.
Remarkably, Republicans voted 129-60 for the nonbinding measure, delivering a stinging repudiation of Trump. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and the chamber's two other top GOP leaders joined in lawmakers' lopsided slap at Trump's decision.
Making Republican defections all the more noteworthy: They came as the two parties are at each other's throats over the Democratic impeachment inquiry of the president.
While virtually all Republicans have rallied behind Trump in the impeachment fight, this is a moment — barely a year from the 2020 elections — when the White House and GOP lawmakers can ill afford to show divisions.
No one was suggesting the GOP's schism with Trump over Syria would soften the party's opposition to tossing him out of office.
"That's a completely different issue," said No. 3 House GOP leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana.
No Republicans attacked Trump personally, instead carefully focusing their criticism on the policy.
Still, the unfettered way in which Republicans openly belittled his troop withdrawal was noteworthy, both for its sweep and for the freedom that GOP lawmakers seemed to feel in opposing him.
Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called it a "dark day" that would have been "much darker" if the two parties hadn't united in voicing their opposition to the troop pullback.
No. 3 House GOP leader Liz Cheney of Wyoming said Syrian Kurds are "facing what looks like a betrayal" by the U.S.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who's been a staunch Trump defender since he entered the White House but a critic of his troop withdrawal, said Trump was making "the biggest mistake of this presidency."
While Trump had said the Kurds would be fine because "they know how to fight," Graham told reporters, "To suggest the Kurds are safer is really delusional."
And Graham all but said Trump would be to blame if there's a new terrorist attack by Islamic State militants. Many fear that group will be revived as Turkey batters the very Kurdish fighters who've been helping the U.S. neutralize them.
"It's going to be to the president's detriment if there's any attacks on our country, inspired attacks, not directly attacks, then he'll own it," Graham said.
Also wading in was Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, who's not seeking reelection and has clashed with Trump over immigration and other issues.
Hurd called Trump's withdrawal a "disastrous decision" because the U.S. is abandoning an ally and ceding influence in the region to adversaries like Russia and Iran. He recalled his pre-Congress experience as an undercover CIA counter-terrorism officer.
"One of the things I learned when I was in the CIA was to be nice with nice guys and tough with tough guys, not the other way around," he said pointedly.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has repeatedly called the move "a mistake" and expressed a determination to do something to correct it, though the answer is unclear.
A former senator and Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who had frequent clashes with Trump and retired last year, has made few public statements since leaving Congress but weighed in on Wednesday.
Asked in an interview why the GOP pushback has been so strong, Corker said, "It was such an irresponsible, precipitous decision where thousands of people are going to die. It's at a whole new level."
Democrats, of course, showed no hesitance in using even stronger language against Trump.
Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., labeled the withdrawal a "dangerous and stupid decision."
And Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., a former Marine and Iraq War veteran, said Trump "has never put his life on the line for his country" like U.S. soldiers in Syria have done.
"Perhaps if he had not dodged the draft by lying about his feet, sending another American in his place to Vietnam," he'd know that "nothing is more evil than betrayal," Moulton said.
That was a reference to a deferment that allowed Trump to not serve in the Vietnam War due to bone spurs. Critics have accused him of draft dodging because Trump hasn't been able to recall which foot had the problem.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. resolution sponsored by the United States and Japan calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space, calling it “a dirty spectacle” that cherry picks weapons of mass destruction from all other weapons that should also be banned.
The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 13 in favor, Russia opposed and China abstaining.
The resolution would have called on all countries not to develop or deploy nuclear arms or other weapons of mass destruction in space, as banned under a 1967 international treaty that included the U.S. and Russia, and to agree to the need to verify compliance.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the vote that Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space.
“Today’s veto begs the question: Why? Why, if you are following the rules, would you not support a resolution that reaffirms them? What could you possibly be hiding,” she asked. “It’s baffling. And it’s a shame.”
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia dismissed the resolution as “absolutely absurd and politicized,” and said it didn’t go far enough in banning all types of weapons in space.
Russia and China proposed an amendment to the U.S.-Japan draft that would call on all countries, especially those with major space capabilities, “to prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space, and the threat of use of force in outer spaces.”
The vote was 7 countries in favor, 7 against, and one abstention and the amendment was defeated because it failed to get the minimum 9 “yes” votes required for adoption.
The U.S. opposed the amendment, and after the vote Nebenzia addressed the U.S. ambassador saying: “We want a ban on the placement of weapons of any kind in outer space, not just WMDs (weapons of mass destruction). But you don’t want that. And let me ask you that very same question. Why?”
He said much of the U.S. and Japan’s actions become clear “if we recall that the U.S. and their allies announced some time ago plans to place weapons … in outer space.”
Nebenzia accused the U.S. of blocking a Russian-Chinese proposal since 2008 for a treaty against putting weapons in outer space.
Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of undermining global treaties to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, irresponsibly invoking “dangerous nuclear rhetoric,” walking away from several of its arms control obligations, and refusing to engage “in substantive discussions around arms control or risk reduction.”
She called Wednesday’s vote “a real missed opportunity to rebuild much-needed trust in existing arms control obligations.”
Thomas-Greenfield’s announcement of the resolution on March 18 followed White House confirmation in February that Russia has obtained a “troubling” anti-satellite weapon capability, although such a weapon is not operational yet.
Putin declared later that Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space, claiming that the country has only developed space capabilities similar to those of the U.S.
Thomas-Greenfield said before the vote that the world is just beginning to understand “the catastrophic ramifications of a nuclear explosion in space.”
It could destroy “thousands of satellites operated by countries and companies around the world — and wipe out the vital communications, scientific, meteorological, agricultural, commercial, and national security services we all depend on,” she said.
The defeated draft resolution said “the prevention of an arms race in outer space would avert a grave danger for international peace and security.” It would have urged all countries carrying out activities in exploring and using outer space to comply with international law and the U.N. Charter.
The draft would have affirmed that countries that ratified the 1967 Outer Space Treaty must comply with their obligations not to put in orbit around the Earth “any objects” with weapons of mass destruction, or install them “on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space.”
The treaty, ratified by some 114 countries, including the U.S. and Russia, prohibits the deployment of “nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction” in orbit or the stationing of “weapons in outer space in any other manner.”
The draft resolution emphasized “the necessity of further measures, including political commitments and legally binding instruments, with appropriate and effective provisions for verification, to prevent an arms race in outer space in all its aspects.”
It reiterated that the U.N. Conference on Disarmament, based in Geneva, has the primary responsibility to negotiate agreements on preventing an arms race in outer space.
The 65-nation body has achieved few results and has largely devolved into a venue for countries to voice criticism of others’ weapons programs or defend their own. The draft resolution would have urged the conference “to adopt and implement a balanced and comprehensive program of work.”
At the March council meeting where the U.S.-Japan initiative was launched, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “geopolitical tensions and mistrust have escalated the risk of nuclear warfare to its highest point in decades.”
He said the movie “Oppenheimer” about Robert Oppenheimer, who directed the U.S. project during World War II that developed the atomic bomb, “brought the harsh reality of nuclear doomsday to vivid life for millions around the world.”
“Humanity cannot survive a sequel to Oppenheimer,” the U.N. chief said.
United States Ambassador and Representative to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield addresses members of the U.N. Security Council before voting during a meeting on Non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
FILE - U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Tokyo. The U.N. Security Council is set to vote Wednesday, April 24, 2024, on a resolution announced by Thomas-Greenfield, calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space. It is likely to be vetoed by Russia. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool, File)
