Republican lawmakers rarely publicly break with the Trump administration. But the GOP leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees have done so on a number of key occasions during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Rep. Mike D. Rogers, R-Ala., both longtime lawmakers and outspoken defense hawks, have criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to scale back American presence on the global stage, particularly in Europe.
Although they back President Donald Trump in general and on many of his other military priorities — including controversial ones, such as deploying thousands of National Guard members to support police in American cities — their decision to speak out illustrates a lingering divide in the Republican Party. While Trump favors a more isolationist foreign policy that focuses on the Western Hemisphere, some other Republicans want the U.S. to remain engaged in Europe and around the world.
