WASHINGTON — Sen. Jack Reed, the Rhode Island Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called President Trump's public praise of North Korea's government a sign of delusion, saying the president suffers from an "egomania that says every powerful figure" deserves his admiration. Reed's comments came Monday as the administration faced mounting criticism from both parties over its posture on the Korean Peninsula.
Reed's criticism centered on Trump's repeated positive references to North Korean leadership, which the senator said were disconnected from the reality of the regime's nuclear program, human rights record and decades of hostility toward U.S. allies in the region.
The criticism arrived alongside a separate flash point: Trump directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to reduce the scale of joint military exercises between U.S. forces and South Korea. The president said he cut back the drills because South Korea refused to assist the United States on Iran-related matters—a direct linkage of alliance obligations to an unrelated diplomatic dispute.
That reasoning drew alarm from Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a retired Air Force brigadier general who sits on the House Armed Services Committee. Bacon said he was concerned that Trump was not "aware" of a U.S. missile shortage—implying the reduction in exercises comes at a moment when American military readiness on the peninsula is already under strain.
Sen. Mark Kelly, the Arizona Democrat and former Navy combat pilot, separately attacked Trump over a decision involving aircraft carrier catapult systems, adding to a chorus of Democratic senators arguing the administration is weakening military capacity in the Pacific at a strategically sensitive moment.
The joint exercises with South Korea have been a cornerstone of the U.S.-South Korea alliance for decades. The drills are designed to maintain interoperability between American and Korean forces and to signal deterrence to Pyongyang. Critics of reducing them argue that scaling back the exercises degrades readiness in a theater where North Korea has continued testing ballistic missiles and expanding its nuclear arsenal.
Trump has a documented history of skepticism toward the cost and value of joint exercises with South Korea, dating to his first term. During the 2018 Singapore summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump referred to the exercises as "war games" and announced a suspension of large-scale drills as a goodwill gesture. Those exercises were later resumed under the Biden administration.
The White House has not publicly detailed the specific scope of the cuts Hegseth has been directed to implement, nor has it named which exercises will be reduced or eliminated. South Korea's government has not issued a public response to Trump's claim that Seoul declined to cooperate on Iran.
Reed's use of the word "delusional" is pointed language for a senator describing a sitting president's foreign policy judgment. Senate Democrats have grown increasingly vocal about what they describe as a pattern of Trump offering praise to authoritarian governments while straining relationships with treaty allies. The North Korea comments fit that argument directly.
The episode puts Senate Majority Leader John Thune in a delicate position. Republican senators have largely avoided direct confrontation with Trump over foreign policy, but Bacon's public comments about missile shortages suggest at least some House Republicans share the underlying concern about military readiness, even if they stop short of Reed's language.
