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  "path": "/post/210851/trump-called-hegseth-troop-withdrawal-poland",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-22T16:19:32.000Z",
  "site": "https://newrepublic.com",
  "tags": [
    "Breaking News",
    "Politics",
    "Republicans",
    "Republican Party",
    "United States",
    "Donald Trump",
    "posted",
    "reported",
    "unpopularity",
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  "textContent": "President Donald Trump personally called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to voice his displeasure with the latter’s decision to pull U.S. troops from Poland last week.\n\nThe president was reportedly shocked by the move, raising questions around who exactly is calling the shots in the White House.\n\nTrump also announced he was sending more troops to the longtime U.S. ally.\n\n“Based on the successful Election of the now President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, who I was proud to Endorse, and our relationship with him, I am pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 troops to Poland,” Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday.\n\n_The Wall Street Journal_ reported Friday that Trump called Hegseth to ask why he had withdrawn the troops, and that he should be kinder to one of America’s oldest allies. This implies that Hegseth was acting independently, or at least without the knowledge of the president—a shocking notion given the significance and unpopularity of the decision to pull troops from Poland. Is Hegseth acting alone? Is Trump too mentally unstable to be looped into these decisions?\n\n“More evidence that DoD is running its own foreign policy, often directly contradicting what Trump wants,” Brookings Institute fellow Tom Wright wrote on X. “This is not the first time it has happened.”\n\nLast year, Hegseth paused aid to Ukraine multiple times, all apparently without Trump’s approval.",
  "title": "Trump Called Up Hegseth to Scold Him on Surprise Troop Withdrawal"
}