Democratic insiders have concluded that President Trump is unusually vulnerable on national security for a Republican, an assessment based on extensive research, but warn the party’s leading 2020 contenders are squandering this unique political opening.
The crowded field of would-be White House nominees has been virtually radio silent on the range of threats facing the United States, from terrorism to illegal immigration to cyberattacks, preferring to to discuss domestic issues such as healthcare popular with the progressive base. Liberal foreign policy experts fear this failure to both acknowledge these key national security concerns, and offer contrasting solutions, could cede crucial political ground to Trump once the general election begins next year.
“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.”
“Trump has opened the door, the way previous presidents haven’t, to go on offense on foreign policy and national security,” added 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.”
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Accelerating that process could put the candidates, one of whom will emerge as the Democratic nominee, in a stronger position to win over swing voters and independents in crucial 2020 battlegrounds once the race against Trump is fully joined. But most Democratic primary voters are not that interested in a debate over national security, a dynamic that discourages the party’s White House hopefuls from raising these issues.
“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.
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. But the Center for American Progress and National Security Action, groups that have both studied voter attitudes about Trump and foreign policy through proprietary polling and focus groups, caution that most of the Democratic contenders are not yet doing enough to exploit this opportunity.
[Opinion: For Trump, ‘national security’ means whatever policy he wants on trade]
Despite voters’ wariness about the president’s national security policy, there are elements of his “America First” framework that are appealing: His commitment to keep Americans safe from looming foreign and domestic terrorism threats, and, especially, his often-stated opposition to “endless war” in the Middle East and support for shifting to domestic priorities the money taxpayers spend overseas. The criticism of Trump’s foreign policy that has been a staple of the 2020 trail is insufficient to pass the commander-in-chief test, Democratic insiders emphasize.
Candidate policies that offer clearly defined alternatives are needed.
“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.
Matt Corridoni, a spokesman for Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, a steep underdog in the Democratic primary but among the few candidates who has focused on national security, said the party’s decision, so far, to ignore national security could blow a chance to outflank Trump on an issue critical to his political strength and that serves as the foundation for his “America First” pitch.
“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,” Corridoni explained.
[Also read: Dunford: Intel indicated Iran was mounting a ‘campaign’ against US]
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.
