GOP sen: Hope Trump missile tweet is just taking a ‘stronger negotiating position’

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on Wednesday that he hopes President Trump’s tweet telling Russia to get ready for missile strikes in Syria just represents the president taking a stronger U.S. negotiating position.

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“I’m hoping this is a stronger negotiating position to get Vladimir Putin to think twice before he continues to do this,” Johnson told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day.”

Trump warned Russia in a tweet on Wednesday that “nice and new and ‘smart'” missiles would be headed to Syria and said Moscow should get ready. 

The president went on to say that relations between Moscow and Russia are the worse they have ever been, including during the Cold War era.

“His second tweet is exactly right. If Russia were to actually behave better in the world, it would be so much better for the Russian economy and the Russian people, but their aggressive action is harming this country’s progress forward. It’s a historical tragedy that Putin has taken this path,” he said. 

Trump’s tweets mark some of his most aggressive rhetoric toward Russia during his presidency.

Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, this week told a Hezbollah-controlled TV station that Russian air defenses would strike down any incoming missiles, and suggested that Russian forces would retaliate against the source of any attacks. 

“If there is a U.S. missile attack, we — in line with both Putin and Russia’s chief of staff’s remarks — will shoot down U.S. rockets and even the sources that launched the missiles,” Zasypkin said. 

Trump has recently ramped up his rhetoric toward Russia following an apparent chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians earlier this week.

Russia is an ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.

“It was an atrocious attack. It was horrible,” Trump said. “This is about humanity and it can’t be allowed to happen.”