Europe keeps scrambling fighters to 'intercept' American jets
In the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to pull thousands of troops out of Europe and cancel the European deployment of thousands more, Representative Don Bacon (R-NE) is voicing the frustration of American allies across the Atlantic. According to CNN reporter Haley Britzky, he received a call from Polish leaders saying they were “blindsided” by the move.
"They called me yesterday, they did not know, they were blindsided," he told Army leadership during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. "These are some of our best allies and they had no idea. They still don't know what the plan is."
While Trump’s intention to remove thousands of American troops from Germany has been widely discussed and critiqued over the past few weeks, the Thursday announcement that the Pentagon would withhold 4,000 thousands of troops set for deployment to Poland shocked many. They argue that the decision not only puts further strain on allied relations that are already stretched thin, but benefits opponents like Russia, China, and Iran, who will view the move as evidence of the U.S. retreat from global military leadership.
Bacon isn’t the only politician to the right of the aisle to voice concern about the matter, as the Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees said in a statement they were “very concerned” by the decision.
“Germany has stepped up in response to President Trump’s call for greater burden sharing, significantly increasing defense spending and providing seamless access, basing, and overflight for US forces in support of Operation Epic Fury,” said Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL) in a joint statement.
What’s more, a 2026 Pentagon funding bill had established that the U.S. could have no fewer than 76,000 troops permanently stationed or deployed to Europe for more than 45 days without explaining a reduction to Congress. But according to Congress, no official explanation has come, with Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) of the Senate Armed Services Committee saying the latest deployment cancellation “came as a surprise.”
“As far as I know, we weren’t notified about it,” she said.
All of this comes as military officials are warning that Russia still poses a major threat to the U.S. and its European allies, with commander of U.S. European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Alex Grynkewich telling lawmakers in March that Russia “is an enduring regional challenger, capable of threatening the US homeland.”
In light of this, Shaheen expressed grave doubts about Trump’s decision, saying, “It is, I think, very short-sighted. It sends the wrong message — wrong message to Vladimir Putin, wrong message to China, wrong message to Iran.”