'Rogue, incompetent': Sen. Duckworth torches Trump over confusion in Poland troop deployment

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) lambasted President Donald Trump as a "rogue, incompetent commander in chief" after he announced that the U.S. will deploy 5,000 troops to Poland days after the Pentagon abruptly cancelled a planned deployment of 4,000 troops. Vice President J.D. Vance then clarified that it was merely a "temporary delay".

The Illinois Democrat accused Trump of lacking "plans or strategies", consequently jeopardizing America's safety. "He's not sharing his military decisions with Congress, nor his own Pentagon. Just chaos," she wrote on X.

The senator's comments underscore growing domestic and international backlash over the Trump administration's erratic military maneuvering, which many say sends a bad message to America's European allies. They also imply that the president's off-the-cuff announcements are likely to worsen friction between the White House, Pentagon, and Congress.

Duckworth was the only one taken aback by surprise. European leaders welcomed the move, but with slight exasperation. Swedish foreign minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters the announcement "is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate", calling for an "orderly" transition. "I hope that we can work in informal meetings on how to arrange this and not through social media," she said.

Sternergard also added that the planned way forward, after discussions with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a meeting in Sweden of NATO foreign ministers, will be to make sure that resources are replaced, preferably by Europe. after they are moved out of the bloc.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski applauded the decision, suggesting that the troop level in Poland will be "roughly what it has been until recently, maybe even some gain". He claimed that the deployment has confused Putin. "He now has no idea what we will do," he said.

Rubio said that decisions over the U.S. force posture are not made on the back of a napkin and involve the allies as well.  He clarified that the Department of War keeps reevaluating these decisions based on the "threat matrix" across the world. "It is an ongoing process that started on the first day of this administration," he told reporters.

 It is no secret that Trump has been reconsidering ​American troop presence in Europe in order to force NATO allies to take a more meaningful role in the continent's defense. The president has also been reportedly unhappy with Europe's reluctance to take an active role in the war with Iran.

Trump recently withdrew 5,000 troops from Germany after a fallout with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who criticized America's negotiation efforts with the Iranians, suggesting that Tehran was humiliating Washington.