OPINION:
The end of Sen. Tim Scott’s presidential campaign means there are only four challengers to former President Donald Trump’s nomination in 2024: Former governors Chris Christie and Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
We need to analyze how each of them stack up against Mr. Trump and the challenges that national security and foreign policy the next president will have to face. President Biden provides a convenient baseline.
Mr. Biden’s foreign and national security policies have been a series of resounding disasters. His Afghanistan withdrawal abandoned Americans, Afghan allies and billions of dollars of equipment to the Taliban. He has let millions of illegal aliens – almost certainly including terrorists – across our southern border. He has zealously pursued a renewal of the disastrous Obama 2015 nuclear weapons deal with Iran and has reduced and waived sanctions on Iran that will bring billions of dollars to the ayatollahs. His diplomacy failed to deter Russia’s war against Ukraine and has led to Russia renouncing several arms control treaties, including, most recently, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
The Russian renunciation of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty means it can test Iranian nuclear weapons legally.
Because his policies are driven more by ego and impulse than principle, Mr. Trump’s presidency was an odd mixture of failures and successes. His Abraham Accords would have created a path to Middle East peace had Mr. Biden not ignored them. Mr. Trump’s “maximum pressure” sanctions on Iran devastated its economy.
Mr. Trump was a strong ally of Israel. But his claims to be able to charm Russian President Putin, Chinese President Xi and other adversaries often led him astray. He has been on both sides of the Ukraine aid issue and has said repeatedly that he could end the Russian war against Ukraine within 24 hours. That’s nonsense. He has also touted his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. In 2017, he said he believed Mr. Putin’s denial of interfering in the 2016 election despite U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusions that Russia did interfere.
Mr. Christie has no credentials in national security or foreign policy, which is not unusual for state governors. His only claim to such experience is that when he was a U.S. attorney, he prosecuted two terrorism cases. Mr. Christie formerly staked out an almost neoconservative-interventionist foreign policy, saying in a 2015 speech that, “…we have never ignored the crises in the world around us,” but hasn’t repeated that in this campaign.
While he was New Jersey governor, Mr. Christie claims to have been active in protecting his state, which is probably true. He also says he would be a very pro-Israel president, which doesn’t separate him from the rest of the candidates. During this campaign, Mr. Christie has bashed Mr. Biden, saying Mr. Biden’s aid to Ukraine gives them just enough to lose. He has also pointed out that a win for Russia in Ukraine is a win for China, emboldening it to attack Taiwan.
Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley gained considerable experience in foreign policy while serving as Mr. Trump’s U.N. ambassador. But she did that in the context of advocating Mr. Trump’s policies, not making her own. Now, she’s the most significant advocate of “peace through strength” and an unwavering advocate for Ukraine and Israel.
In her campaign, she has promised to defend Taiwan and labeled China as our greatest threat. Like Mr. Christie, she has said that a win for Russia in Ukraine is a win for China. Mr. DeSantis has criticized her for friendliness to Chinese businesses while she was governor, but that doesn’t diminish her focused anti-China stance.
Mr. DeSantis, like Mr. Christie, has no foreign policy or national security experience. He made a mistake early in his campaign by calling the Russian war on Ukraine a “territorial dispute,” which he has since walked back, but he still dodges the Ukraine aid issue. Like Mrs. Haley, Mr. DeSantis views China as our greatest threat and, like Mr. Christie, promises to be a pro-Israel president.
Unlike the other candidates, Mr. DeSantis, because he is currently a governor, was able to act when U.S. citizens were stuck in Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. He chartered flights to bring hundreds of U.S. citizens home.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but Mr. Ramaswamy is a complete idiot on foreign policy and national security. He wants to end our aid to Ukraine and promise Russia that Ukraine will never be a NATO member. He has said that such actions will result in Russia breaking its alliance with China (!?!). That’s not merely a rookie mistake; it indicates his lack of understanding, knowledge and judgment which we cannot afford in any U.S. president.
Mr. Ramaswamy has said he would commit to defending Taiwan, but only until we gain independence in the manufacture of computer chips. He has also said he wants to make aid to Israel unnecessary by 2028 and that he wouldn’t use American forces against Iran, which sounds like he wouldn’t defend Israel.
It’s unfortunate – and understandable – that most Americans don’t base their votes on national security or foreign policy. The best we can hope for is that Mr. Trump or Mrs. Haley can defeat Mr. Biden.
• Jed Babbin is a national security and foreign affairs columnist for The Washington Times and contributing editor for The American Spectator.
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