GOP Rep warns Trump's Ukraine peace deal is a 'surrender plan' that could tarnish his legacy

WASHINGTON, DC: A prominent Republican lawmaker has publicly broken ranks with President Donald Trump over his proposed peace framework for Ukraine and Russia.

Nebraska Republican Rep Don Bacon argues that it would force Ukraine to give up too much and would be rewarding for Russia. He warned that it could seriously damage Trump’s legacy.

 Don Bacon's warning against Trump's peace plan

Bacon took to social media on Saturday, November 22, to criticize the plan, posting an image of a wasteland with three distressed eagles and the words, "In the war between Ukraine and Russia, the first to surrender was America."

"This will be President Trump’s legacy if he forces this surrender plan on Ukraine," he wrote, issuing a grim warning with the image.

“They’re pushing a surrender plan on Ukraine and one that will keep Ukraine vulnerable to Russian attacks in the decades to come. It looks like Russia wrote it,” he noted.

Bacon was one of several GOP lawmakers to criticize the peace plan. He, along with the bipartisan co-chairs of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, issued a statement rejecting the peace plan as “unacceptable.”

“The proposed ‘peace plan’ for Ukraine appears to favor the interests of the aggressor — Dictator Vladimir Putin — over the sovereignty and security of a democratic Ukraine. That is unacceptable. This framework does not offer a genuine path to lasting peace, but instead, demands the surrender and capitulation of Ukraine to Russian aggression,” the group said.

They warned that accepting this proposal would “undermine European and NATO security, weaken Ukraine’s ability to defend itself, and fail to address Russian aggression.”

Lawmakers across the aisle slam Trump's Ukraine plan

Several prominent lawmakers on both sides are criticizing Trump’s proposal.

“Putin has spent the entire year trying to play President Trump for a fool,” Kentucky GOP Senator Mitch McConnell wrote on Friday. “If Administration officials are more concerned with appeasing Putin than securing real peace, then the President ought to find new advisors.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the only appropriate word to describe the president’s plan is “capitulation.”

“Let me be as clear as possible: Ukraine needs and deserves security guarantees, not one-sided concessions,” he added in a Saturday post. “Any serious peace deal must ensure Ukraine remains free and sovereign with the fullest ability to defend its territory.”

Trump pushes Zelensky to accept peace deal

While speaking to the reporters on Saturday, Trump said that the peace plan was “not my final offer.” But he warned that if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky didn’t accept the plan by the deadline, “then he can continue to fight his little heart out.”

“I would like to get to peace. It should have happened a long time ago. The Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened,” the POTUS said outside the White House. “One way or the other, we have to get it ended.”