Democratic 2020 hopefuls AWOL on national security

Democratic insiders have concluded that Trump is unusually vulnerable on national security for a Republican, an assessment based on proprietary polling and focus groups. But they warn that the leading Democratic candidates, most of whom prefer to discuss domestic issues such as healthcare popular with the liberal base, are squandering this opening.

The Democratic field has been virtually radio silent on the range of threats facing the United States, from terrorism to illegal immigration to cyberattacks. Liberal foreign policy experts fear the failure to both acknowledge these key national security issues and offer contrasting solutions could cede crucial political ground to Trump once the general election rolls around.

“One of the challenges Democrats have had over the past two-and-a-half years is that they’ve been in a reactive tactical frame, letting Trump set the terms of the conversation,” added Brian Katulis, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington. “The 2020 field, so far, has not yet mined the possibilities with Americans in a way that competes with Trump’s ‘America First’ nationalism.”

But the vast majority of Democratic primary voters are not that interested in a debate over national security.

“At this early stage, when you’re trying to get ahead of the pack, there is not a lot of plus side in talking about stuff that no one is interested in,” Joe Trippi, a veteran operative of Democratic presidential campaigns, said.

“Trump has opened the door, the way previous presidents haven’t, to go on offense on foreign policy and national security,” said Ned Price of National Security Action, a liberal group that has advised some of the Democratic presidential campaigns. “That’s why I suspect we’ll increasingly see well-developed and articulated foreign policy platforms emanating from the Democratic field.”

Republicans commonly perform better than Democrats on national security. Trump’s job approval rating on this issue is underwater in public opinion polls, however, with voters insecure about his trade policies, squabbles with stalwart U.S. allies, and foreign policy proclamations via Twitter. The Center for American Progress and National Security Action, groups that have both studied voter attitudes about Trump and foreign policy, caution that most of the Democratic contenders are not yet doing enough to exploit this opening.

Democratic insiders emphasize that criticism of Trump’s foreign policy, a staple of the 2020 trail, is insufficient, and that candidate policies are needed.

There are elements of the president’s “America First” framework that are broadly popular with voters, especially his stated opposition to “endless war” in the Middle East and support for shifting to domestic priorities the money taxpayers spend overseas. Democrats have not spoken to this or offered a clearly defined alternative.

“If voters don’t trust the nominee to keep the nation safe, [he or she] is not going to win,” said T.J. Rooney, former chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.

“I think there’s a missed opportunity that the party and other candidates aren’t seeing: For the first time, we have an opportunity to take back patriotism from the Republicans,” explained Matt Corridoni, spokesman for Rep. Seth Moulton’s campaign. The Massachusetts Democrat is among the few in his party actually running on foreign policy. But he is a steep underdog in the primaries.

Some of the leading Democratic campaigns have begun paying more attention to national security and foreign policy. Party operatives say they like what they have seen from former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont; Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., and Sen. Kamala Harris of California.

Dan Helmer, vice chairman for VoteVets.org, a group that advocates on behalf of liberal military veterans, said that several national security issues that have been ignored in the past, such as climate change, are being raised in the Democratic campaign. He praised the candidates for confronting American foreign policy challenges while simultaneously showing the fortitude to question strategies that have dominated the thinking of experts in Washington since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Comments are closed.