WATCH: Retiring Republican Congressman Unloads On President Trump In Blistering Interview With CNN

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who is retiring at the end of his term, delivered some of the most pointed criticism of President Donald Trump to come from within Republican ranks in a wide-ranging interview aired Sunday on CNN’s Inside Politics.

Pressed by host Manu Raju about Trump’s escalating fights with the press — including threats to strip ABC of its broadcast license following late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s joke about conservative activist Charlie Kirk — Bacon did not hold back.

“The president doing threats against media is also wrong,” Bacon said. “We don’t threaten the media. … To threaten media and say you’re going to pull their license, that’s not what America’s about. And we do have a freedom of speech, freedom of the press. And we should defend that.”

Bacon added that while Kimmel’s joke was in poor taste, “to threaten media” over it went far beyond acceptable criticism.

Turning to the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, Bacon rebuked Trump’s rhetoric, accusing him of painting the violence as a problem solely linked to the left.

“It’s not very unifying,” Bacon said. “I don’t think it’s accurate, for one. And it’s not unifying.”

When asked if Trump should tone down his rhetoric, Bacon said: “Absolutely. He centers on anger and opposition. … He had a chance to be more Ronald Reagan and try to unify both sides on this.

The Nebraska Republican reserved some of his harshest words for Trump’s handling of Russia, drawing a sharp contrast with former President Ronald Reagan.

“I think it would be bad,” Bacon said when asked how Reagan would view Trump’s dealings with Vladimir Putin. “Reagan stood up to Gorbachev. I don’t see the moral clarity right now out of the White House. … The president sends out such mixed messages on NATO and totally immoral, ambiguous messages about Ukraine and Russia … it’s probably the thing that bothers me the most.”

When pressed on whether Trump has the moral character expected of a president, Bacon hesitated.

“If you want to be a leader, people got to trust you, and they got to know your word’s your bond,” he said. But when Raju asked directly if Trump possesses that character, Bacon dodged: “Yeah… I think I’ll skirt around that.”