Jeffrey A. Friedman and Andrew Payne
During the 2024 presidential campaign, the U.S. foreign policy establishment was virtually united in declaring Donald Trump unfit to serve as commander in chief. More than 100 Republican national security leaders joined with Democrats to endorse Kamala Harris, condemning Trump as an aspiring autocrat who would upend the U.S.-built global order. Even several of Trump’s own top officials—including two secretaries of defense, two national security advisers, and a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—warned that Trump posed a clear and present danger to the United States’ interests abroad and its democracy at home.
Yet Trump is now returning to the White House, and foreign policy appears to have helped him get there. Although international relations are not as important to voters as the economy, polling data indicates that global issues did play a role in the election’s outcome and that this factor worked to Trump’s advantage. This was partly because of Trump’s stance on immigration, which was the top international issue on voters’ minds by a wide margin. But it was also because Trump convinced voters that he is a strong leader—which is the attribute that the electorate values most in a commander in chief. Harris, meanwhile, struggled to explain how she would inject new life into U.S. foreign policy at a time when most Americans say they are dissatisfied with their country’s standing in the world.
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