Russian MILITARY aggression is on the rise against the U.S. — but
President Trump has seemingly not responded to it.Russian warplanes are increasingly flying close to Alaskan airspace, forcing the U.S. to run interception efforts more often than it has in recent years. Russian fighter jets kept zooming within 100 feet of a U.S. Air Force bomber over the Black Sea, and a Russian helicopter recently hovered close to U.S. forces. And just last week, a Russian armored vehicle "deliberately rammed" into an
American patrol in
Syria, injuring seven U.S. troops, The
New York Times notes.But President Trump hasn't given much public attention to the threats — something both
Democratic presidential nominee
Joe Biden and Trump's own former officials have called him out for. They say it's a continuation of Trump's lack of public confrontation with Russian President
Vladimir Putin over reports that
Russia placed bounties on U.S. troops' heads in
Afghanistan.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did tell the Times that "America will respond" to the armored vehicle situation.Biden brought up the ramming incident in a Monday speech, asking "Did you hear the president say a single word? Did he lift one finger?" to respond to it. Russia similarly escalated aggression during the Obama administration, but reportedly to a lesser extent. "Never before has an American president played such a subservient role to a Russian leader," Biden continued, calling Trump's lack of action "not only dangerous," but "humiliating and embarrassing."Brett McGurk, a former national security official who served under both former President
Barack Obama and Trump, meanwhile tweeted some harsh criticism of his own.