At least two Republican lawmakers publicly broke from praising President Donald Trump over his clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, with one calling it a “bad day” for American foreign policy.
Yet another said the “only winner” to come out of the contentious meeting at the Oval Office was Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance chided Zelenskyy for debating them in front of the American media ahead of what was supposed to be a day of finalizing terms for a rare earth minerals deal that the administration hoped would be the prelude to a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia to end the three-year war.
But Zelenskyy’s push to obtain security against future Russian aggression and repeated challenges to the American leaders were not received well by Trump and Vance.
But not every Republican saw it the way Trump, Vance, and the vast amount of their colleagues did.
“A bad day for America’s foreign policy. Ukraine wants independence, free markets and rule of law. It wants to be part of the West. Russia hates us and our Western values. We should be clear that we stand for freedom,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told The Hill.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., called the clash a “missed opportunity” for both countries.
"Diplomacy is tough and often times there are serious differences of opinion and heated exchanges behind closed doors. Having this spill out into public view was a disaster — especially for Ukraine,” he said in a post to X.
“President Zelenskyy and his team must work with President Trump and his administration to get this agreement back on track immediately,” Lawler added.
In the end, Lawler said, “the only winner of today is Vladimir Putin.”
Lawler and Bacon, at least publicly, were in the minority. No less than 40 Republican lawmakers from both chambers took to social media to applaud Trump and Vance for putting America first and demanding accountability for the hundreds of billions sent to Ukraine during the Biden administration, in addition to pushing for peace in the three-year war instigated by Russia.
“America’s priorities come first. @POTUS and @VP made it clear — Ukraine’s interests are not America’s interests. We’ve spent hundreds of billions with no accountability, no clear objectives, and no plan for peace. It’s time to put America first and end this war,” read one post from Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., emblematic of the sentiment from most GOP lawmakers.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.