Breaking with Trump, Bacon says he won’t follow his party ‘off the cliff’

WASHINGTON — Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., has publicly accused President Donald Trump of treating Russia with “velvet gloves,” criticized him for gutting AmeriCorps and questioned his power to impose tariffs without congressional approval.

He has described Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal to share sensitive military operations as “unacceptable.” And he was the sole House Republican to vote “no” on a bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” He said he thought it was stupid.

Bacon’s willingness to publicly disagree with the president makes him an anomaly in the tribal House Republican Conference, where members tend to fall in line behind Trump’s agenda and actively seek out ways to demonstrate their loyalty to him. In a Republican-led Congress that has been reluctant to challenge Trump on almost anything, the Nebraskan is among the last of a disappearing breed in his party. And his recent statements and actions strongly suggest he may be headed for the exit.

In an interview in his office last week, Bacon, at 61 serving his fifth term in Congress, would not say whether he voted for Trump last year. He also likened members of his party to people following someone off a cliff, compared himself to Winston Churchill speaking out against Adolf Hitler in the 1930s and criticized billionaire tech tycoon Elon Musk, who has bankrolled many of his Republican colleagues.

“I sort of blame him for that disaster,” he said of Musk, referring to Musk exhorting Republicans late last year to tank a spending deal that was intended to avert a government shutdown.

On one level, Bacon is making a fairly obvious statement: Musk did play a crucial role in killing the spending bill. But it is the kind of obvious statement that most Republicans on Capitol Hill are not willing to make these days, for fear of jeopardizing their political futures as Musk threatens retribution against anyone who fails to vote the way he believes they should.

In the coming weeks, Bacon, who represents a center-leaning district in the otherwise deeply red state of Nebraska that both former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris won by more than 4 percentage points, plans to announce whether or not he will seek a sixth term in Congress.

His retirement would be welcome news for Democrats, who have long viewed Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District as one of their best opportunities to pick up a seat. They have consistently been denied because of Bacon’s strong independent brand and unique electoral strength. Last month, a Democrat unseated a three-term Republican in the Omaha mayor’s race. The morning after that race was called, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the minority leader, told the House Democratic Caucus that they were officially on “Don Bacon retirement watch,” and the room erupted in cheers, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

Bacon would not discuss his plans, but his recent record of criticizing Trump and Musk suggests that he does not have a reelection campaign in mind. Still, in the interview, he said he had not given up on politics or on the Republican Party.

“I’d like to fight for the soul of our party,” Bacon said, sitting in his office as Trump and Musk’s high-stakes alliance dissolved in real time on social media. “I don’t want to be the guy who follows the flute player off the cliff. I think that’s what’s going on right now.”

He also has no interest in taking the path of former Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois or Liz Cheney of Wyoming and making a clean break with a GOP that no longer reflects many of his values.

“You can’t be anti-everything,” he said. “I like what the president has done on the border, so I have no problem with that.”

He also likes being a negotiator.

“I don’t like voting ‘no,’” he said. “I like fixing things.”

At the moment, he is pressing Republican leaders to reject a proposal from the Trump administration to claw back $400 million for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the global health program started by President George W. Bush that is credited with saving more than 25 million lives worldwide. The proposal is part of a $9 billion package of spending cuts the White House sent to Capitol Hill last week, which House GOP leaders plan to bring to a vote this week.

“I told them I’m a no,” Bacon said of the bill. “I just want to make sure we’re funding the medicine. We want to prevent AIDS; it’s a noble program; it’s George Bush’s legacy. I put the marker out there. We’ll see.”

Bacon, a mild-mannered Midwesterner with a permanent half-smile on his face, is too much of a traditional conservative to have ever voted for Harris. But he would not say whether he voted for Trump.

This is not a normal pose for a Republican in 2025. But Bacon has grown more confident over the years, as he has consistently fended off both right-wing challengers and Democrats to hold onto his seat, that he can remain fairly independent and suffer no political consequences.

House leaders have begged him to keep more of his opinions to himself, telling him to, as Bacon puts it, “quit kicking President Trump in the nuts.”

In response, Bacon said he has assured them: “I’ll do it only when I think it’s needed.”

That is becoming more and more often.

In an alternative universe where there was more appetite for a Republican willing to break with Trump, Bacon has the kind of temperament and resume that could prompt dreams of running for president.

Raised on a farm in Illinois, Bacon served for nearly three decades in the U.S. Air Force, earning the rank of brigadier general and specializing in electronic warfare and intelligence.

The self-described Reaganite Republican has served in the House for eight years, consistently winning a district that centers on Omaha, the “blue dot” in an otherwise red state.

Bacon said he does think about running for president, drawing a comparison between his own fairly independent position in a tribal party and Churchill’s during the 1930s, when the British government was pursuing a policy of appeasement toward Nazi Germany.

“You never know; things change,” he said. “Right now, probably not. But Winston Churchill, who is one of my heroes, he was very unpopular 1932 through ‘40 because he was anti-Nazi. But in 1940, they go, ‘Who was the only guy that knew what was going on?’ “

Bacon said his dream job would be to serve in a Republican administration in a Cabinet-level role.

“If I had a perfect lane, someday I’d love to work in an administration, as director of intelligence, or secretary of defense or Air Force.”

That’s exceedingly unlikely in the current administration. But if his independent streak costs him such opportunities, Bacon said he would be just fine with that.

“I’d rather go down in history as being on the right side of this stuff,” he said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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