Jenni Dye, research director for liberal group One Wisconsin Now, called Walker’s comparing the two scenarios “simply jaw-dropping.”

“Declaring one of these actions was not dramatically more serious than the other is either incredibly naive or the most disturbing example yet of Gov. Walker’s blind partisanship,” Dye said.

Walker also voiced support for keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan, noting the number of troops still stationed in Germany decades after World War II. He noted that the 8,400 troops expected to remain after President Barack Obama leaves office is higher than the 5,500 Obama said would remain in October. Obama, who won election amid widespread opposition to the Iraq War and on promises of ending the war in Afghanistan, had talked about reducing U.S. presence to only an embassy.

Walker said those he talked to in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan were encouraged by Trump’s pick of Gen. James Mattis for defense secretary, because it signaled that he would be making decisions based on military needs and not politics.