By Karoun Demirjian (c) 2019, The Washington Post ·Feb 01, 2019   - WASHINGTON - The vast majority of Senate Republicans backed Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday in a rebuke of President Donald Trump’s rationale for withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan, voting to declare that the Islamic State’s presence and activity in both countries continues to pose a serious threat to the United States.   

The measure, presented as an amendment to a greater Middle East Policy bill, is a striking reprimand of the president from a GOP that has become increasingly comfortable expressing its opposition to Trump’s foreign policy through votes on the Senate floor.   That it was spearheaded by McConnell, R-Ky., who often waits to cross Trump until there is overwhelming momentum in his conference, indicates how deeply the President’s announcements broke faith within the party. Republicans spent years accusing Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, of pursuing capricious troop withdrawals and have refused to defend Trump’s efforts to do the same.