In what many experts have been calling a test of NATO’s strength and resolve, Russia flew nearly two dozen drones into Poland on Tuesday. President Donald Trump, who has barely acknowledged the incursion, late Thursday afternoon appeared to offer Russia his own defense.

“A continent already on edge over the Ukraine war sees a Russian challenge to NATO readiness and to an America that wants to disengage from Europe,” is how The New York Times described Russia’s launch of drones into Poland in an analysis on Thursday. The paper of record called it “a test for NATO, and the U.S.”

“Polish, Ukrainian and many Western officials believe the Russian drone barrage was intentional,” the Times added, noting that the top general of Russia’s ally, Belarus, “said the drones had veered off course.”

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President Trump appeared to latch on to that defense.

“It could’ve been a mistake,” Trump told reporters asking for his reaction nearly two days later. “It could’ve been a mistake,” he repeated.

“But regardless, I’m not happy about anything having to do with the whole situation,” he declared. “But hopefully it’s going to come to an end.”

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly vowed to end Russia’s war against Ukraine on day one.

On Thursday, Trump removed some sanctions on Belarus, the Associated Press reported, in exchange for the freeing of some political prisoners.

Veteran foreign policy journalist Laura Rozen called Trump’s remarks, “Pathetic, wishful thinking.”

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Describing the President’s remarks as “baffling,” security policy expert Robert Pszczel of the Centre for Eastern Studies, Poland, wrote: “Mistake?! A group of drones entering Polish/NATO airspace at the same time? It was a provocation testing Polish and Allied resolve, prepared in advance, including a well-rehearsed and quickly activated disinformation campaign by #Russia.”

Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired senior Intelligence Service officer, called the President’s remarks the “most predictable response, perhaps ever?…. Inability to blame Russia is just so deeply embedded….extraordinary.”

“He is never NOT making excuses for Putin,” noted John O’Brennan, a professor of European politics.

“Trump continues to give Russia break after break and benefit of the doubt,” observed the Financial Times’ Christopher Miller. “Here he does not condemn the latest and largest Russian aerial attack of the war days ago or the Russian drones that flew deep into NATO territory.”

REPORTER: What’s your reaction to Russia’s drone incursion into Poland?

TRUMP: It could’ve been a mistake pic.twitter.com/lPNIHHnEjE

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 11, 2025

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A Wisconsin Republican state lawmaker is defending his legislation that would ban LGBTQ+ pride flags, along with other flags, from being flown on government buildings, by claiming that they are divisive.

In remarks on the floor on Thursday, GOP state Rep. Jerry O’Connor linked the 9/11 attacks with Wednesday’s assassination of right-wing commentator and activist Charlie Kirk to defend his bill.

“These two events have something in common: Those that hate the standards and the principles and the founding institutions that we have in America,” Rep. O’Connor told his colleagues.

O’Connor argued that his legislation is, as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, “designed to eliminate ‘government-sponsored division’ and could prevent future political violence by limiting which flags can be on display.”

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Rep. O’Connor, the paper added,  “hypothesized that if the Capitol hosted flags representing LGBTQ+ Pride, the ‘Make America Great Again’ movement, Black Lives Matter, pro-life and pro-choice causes, ‘in the end, anyone driving around this building’s going to be upset. Why would we do that?'”

O’Connor told colleagues that “you move from what’s too often political dialogue, that moves to political rhetoric, and there are those extreme cases where it leads to hatred and to murder. That’s not the role that the government should be a part of as elected officials here in Wisconsin, and we need to act.”

“We need to be the ones who lead by setting aside political and partisan differences. Stop the gaslighting. Stop the hateful rhetoric, and stop the excessive division,” he said. “Today, we’ve heard various testimony that objects to this bill as if it’s the cause of division, when it is quite the opposite. It’s to stop causing division.”

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The Republican majority passed Rep. O’Connor’s bill, which will ban all flags, including the LGBTQ+ Pride flag, from flying on government buildings, except for the state flag, the U.S. flag or a state agency’s flag.

The LGBTQ+ Pride flag was designed to be a symbol of inclusion, tolerance, and unity.

O’Connor’s legislation comes after Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, “in 2019 ordered the LGBTQ+ pride flag to fly over the East Wing of the state Capitol during the month of June — the first time the rainbow flag flew above the building in its history. Evers has continued to raise the flag each year since, moving to the ‘Progress’ pride flag in 2022.”

Wisconsin Rep. Jerry O’Connor (R-Fond du Lac), author of a bill to ban LGBTQ+ Pride flags from being displayed at the state Capitol, says flying the Pride flag will lead to extreme division that caused the 9/11 attacks and the Charlie Kirk shooting. pic.twitter.com/73RfL6IIEe

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) September 11, 2025

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House and Senate Republicans are lashing out at Democrats en masse, blaming them for rhetoric they say led to Wednesday’s assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

U.S. Rep. Bob Onder (R-MO), in a speech Thursday on the floor of the House of Representatives, attacked the left, charging that even those who are “well-meaning” abide by an ideology of “hate” that mirrors communist authoritarians and revolutionaries.

“Well, everything has changed,” Congressman Onder claimed. “If we didn’t know it already, there is no longer any middle ground.”

“Some on the American left are undoubtedly well-meaning people. But their ideology is pure evil,” he charged. “They hate the good, the truth, and the beautiful, and embrace the evil, the false and the ugly.”

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“And they literally will kill those with whom they disagree just as their predecessor leftists—Marx, and Stalin, and Lenin, and Pol Pot, and Fidel Castro, did. “We must know that.”

Onder is not the only GOP lawmaker on Capitol Hill attacking the left in the wake of Kirk’s killing, despite the killer having not yet been identified or captured.

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) told Newsmax on Thursday morning that “what we are finding is that when you do have those strong conservative voices speaking truth to power you will find that when the left can no longer debate it, they can’t deny the truth, the only way they can silence those voices is through violence.”

U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) went even further, vowing to use “Congressional authority” to “cancel” anyone who “belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk.”

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“I’m basically going to cancel with extreme prejudice these evil, sick animals who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s assassination,” he wrote.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) declared on Wednesday that “Democrats own what happened today.”

“Some raging leftist lunatic put a bullet through his neck,” she declared.

As of now, there is no suspect in custody, and the FBI has announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to a suspect’s arrest.

Onder: There is no longer any middle ground. Some on the American left are undoubtedly well-meaning people but their ideology is pure evil. They hate the good, the truth, and the beautiful, and embrace the evil, the false, and the ugly pic.twitter.com/g4wCbIU12i

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 11, 2025

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Image via Wikimedia/Public domain