‘Pull My Name Off The I Support Donald Trump List,’ Says GOP Lawmaker Over Syria Pullout
President Donald Trump was on the receiving end from both sides of the political aisle for his recent and controversial decision to remove U.S. troops from a section of Syria, which, in turn, left American allies vulnerable to attacks from Turkey.
But while the Republicans who voiced concern over the move measured their criticism, at least one GOP lawmaker not only condemned Trump for the move, but pulled his support for the president altogether.
According to KTVI, Illinois Republican Rep. John Shimkus publicly pulled his support for Trump during a recent radio interview, calling Trump’s decision to reposition the troops “despicable” and “terrible.”
“I’m heartbroken. In fact, I called my chief of staff in DC and said, ‘Pull my name off the I support Donald Trump list.’ We have just stabbed our allies in the back. This has just shocked, embarrassed, and angered me,” Shimkus said.
After slamming the president as a “populist” who puts America first, even if it means abandoning allies, Shimkus doubled down on his shift away from supporting Trump.
“While my votes will continue to support the President’s domestic policy agenda, because of this terrible foreign policy decision I asked that my name be removed from his campaign’s official list of supporters,” Shimkus stated.
Shimkus, who is not up for re-election in 2020, joined regional Republican allies Sen. Roy Blunt and Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, both of whom expressed concern over Trump’s decision.
Several other high-profile Republicans questioned Trump’s decision to leave Kurdish allies vulnerable to attack, including Rep. Liz Cheney and Sen. Lindsey Graham — both are otherwise staunch Trump backers.
Graham called the move a “disaster in the making” and Cheney posted on social media that “The news from Syria is sickening.”
The president struck back at Graham — one of his top allies in the U.S. Senate — on Wednesday with a dig about Graham’s hawkish foreign policy positions.
“I think Lindsey would like to stay there for the next 200 years and maybe add a couple a hundred thousand people every place,” Trump said. “But I disagree with Lindsey on that.”
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed the president’s decision to move troops out of northern Syria, citing what she claims is a conflict of personal financial conflicts of interests that the president has in the region.
Within several days of allowing Turkish forces to move forward with an incursion into northern Syria, Trump on Wednesday seemed to partially backtrack on the idea, as he condemned the assault that Turkish forces later mounted on Kurdish fighters, who have been instrumental in assisting the U.S. military in the fight against ISIS terrorists.
