Ex-Republican lawmaker leaves GOP over Trump’s ‘misguided leadership’: report

Former Iowa state representative Ken Rizer (R) reportedly said Monday that he is leaving the Republican Party due to President Trump’s “misguided leadership.” 

Rizer, a retired Air Force pilot and commander, announced his decision on Facebook shortly after Trump’s controversial performance during his joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Des Moines Register reported.

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“[Former national security adviser] H.R. McMaster wrote a fabulous book called Dereliction of Duty, which outlined how the Joint Chiefs failed to step up and oppose President [Lyndon] Johnson’s disastrous Vietnam War policy,” Rizer wrote in a post that appears to have since been made inaccessible to the public. “Military officers read and studied this book, presumably so that we wouldn’t repeat similar mistakes.” 

“We’re at another such moment in our foreign affairs where people of character in this administration need to speak up or resign,” the 53-year-old continued, according to the newspaper. “As for me, I can no longer call myself a Republican given the erratic and misguided leadership of the president. I will always be a [Ronald] Reagan conservative, but find no place for such views in Trump’s World. Until the Republican Party recovers its values, my party affiliation will be ‘No Party.’ ” 

Rizer resigned from his Iowa House seat in May after serving four sessions.

He reportedly said he would not vote for Trump in 2016.

Trump drew instant backlash from both sides of the aisle after he downplayed the Russian government’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and slammed the special counsel’s investigation during his joint press conference with Putin on Monday.