PAUL HAMMEL
Nebraska Examiner
OMAHA — Nebraska Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon stepped onto a national stage Sunday to express concerns about President Donald Trump’s recent statements about Ukraine.
On the CBS news program “60 Minutes,” Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier general, said it appeared that the president was trying to “appease” Russian leader Vladimir Putin by saying that Ukraine “started” the war in that Eastern European nation and that any peace deal should include no security guarantee from the West. Both are common arguments put forward by the Kremlin.
“I hope it’s not as bad as it sounds,” Bacon told “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley. “America is the leader of the free world, we’re the indispensable power. No one can stand up to Russia and China if we’re not a part of that.”
“Ukraine is the victim,” he added. “I think Putin has made clear he wants to reestablish his old borders, and that’s not in our national security interests … it’s also a moral issue.”
While Bacon said it appears as if Trump is trying to curry favor with Putin with his comments, the congressman added, “I don’t know his motives. Some people think he’s doing this for negotiating and maybe to help get a better deal.”
“I don’t know. All I know is what he says,” Bacon said. “And when he says Russia is not the invader and (that) it’s Ukraine’s fault, that’s just wrong.”
“Is there danger in this?” Pelley asked Bacon.
Yes, the Omaha-area congressman responded, because he worries that the national security “framework” established after World World II, in which NATO was formed by the West to ensure peace, “is going to collapse.”
Bacon and Trump have had a complicated history, with both men having endorsed one another after seeking other options. But Bacon has ultimately endorsed Trump three times. Nebraska Democrats have criticized Bacon as willing to criticize Trump in the press to appear independent but saying that he ends up siding with the president when it matters.
The “60 Minutes” segment was spawned by a turbulent week in Washington in which Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator.” Trump also blamed Ukraine for starting the war when it was Russia that invaded in March of 2023.
Matters escalated Friday when, in a fiery, live television exchange with Zelenskyy during his visit to the White House, Trump said that U.S. aid to his country has allowed the Ukrainian president to be “the tough guy,” and if the country didn’t make a cease fire deal and proceeds without American help, “It’s not going to be pretty.”
The exchange followed Vice President J.D. Vance telling Zelenskyy that “diplomacy” was what would end the war, and what Trump was doing was seeking a diplomatic end to the fighting.
Things became heated after Zelenskyy asked Vance, “What kind of diplomacy?” Zelenskyy tried to explain that diplomacy had been attempted, but the Russians wouldn’t live up to the terms and cannot be trusted.
His words were often drowned out by comments from Vance and Trump. Others interviewed during the program also questioned Trump’s approach.
Gen. H.R. McMaster, who had served as Trump’s national security advisor until resigning in 2018 over differences with the president, told Pelley that Trump was “being played” by Putin, whom he called “a master manipulator.”
U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said Ukrainians had “done the dying” in the war with Russia, and all they wanted from the U.S., was “the ability to defend themselves.”
