Backlash as Republicans rip Trump’s 'nonsense' summit plan

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, August 15, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Several Republican lawmakers are not having it with President Donald Trump's recent pro-Russia push, and now, with a Ukraine peace summit without Ukraine taking shape, they tore into his plans as "nonsense" and "morally wrong," per a new report from The Hill.

In a piece published Wednesday morning, The Hill explained that Trump's increasingly warm relationship with Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, could potentially lead to a forthcoming trilateral meeting involving the two nations, alongside China and its leader, Xi Jinping, to try and work out a resolution to Russia's years-long war in Ukraine. This plan would, notably, not bring Ukraine to the negotiating table, sparking renewed uproar over Trump's hostile treatment of the embattled nation.

Some of this backlash is coming from within Trump's own party, with the outlet citing several GOP senators who tore into Trump for his latest Putin appeasements and betrayal of Ukraine.

"Trump told reporters this week at the White House he would be open to a trilateral summit with Putin and Xi but said the focus should be on nuclear weapons and nuclearization and possibly trade as well," the report explained. "But the prospect Trump could also cut a deal on Ukraine with Russia and China is leaving some Republican senators alarmed after Trump surprised GOP lawmakers on Friday by issuing an executive order waiving tough new sanctions against Russia that Congress approved last month."

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who has clashed with Trump during his second term, called the summit idea "morally wrong" and "foolhardy," during an interview on Sirius XM’s “The Julie Mason Show.”

"To not include Ukraine is nonsense,” Cassidy said. “Ukrainians have got to be part of any peace deal. It’s not only essential because otherwise we won’t have peace, but it’s also the right thing to do. Russia is trying to kill Americans around the world, covertly and overtly."

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who has also been highly critical of the Trump administration, attacked Trump's recent deals with Putin during an appearance on CNN.

"Putin is playing President Trump like a fiddle," he said. "History is not going to look good on an America that failed to rise up and defend the Western world if Putin actually gets his way.”

He further argued that Putin and Xi "want to overwhelm the world" with their plans, and called the idea of a trilateral summit with the two nations "absurd."

Judd Gregg, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire, also took aim at Trump's recent action, particularly his executive order waiving new sanctions on Russia, calling them "beyond inexcusable."

"These sanctions were put in with his support, I presume, and they reflect a very strong opinion of the Congress and of the American people that Russia has invaded a democracy and killed tens of thousands of people and they are very clearly at fault,” he said. “We should not be endorsing a dictatorship that has used power in this way to kill innocent people and to invade countries which they have no right to be in. These sanctions … passed because there was legitimate and appropriate — and there continues to be legitimate and appropriate — outrage with the actions of Putin.”

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