Pete Buttigieg is 37 years old, could pass for a decade younger, and is currently battling a beloved former vice president for the moderate lane of the 2020 primary. President Trump gave Buttigieg a chance to boost his appearance of experience and bait the dregs of the Left with the killing of Qassem Soleimani, and Buttigieg is capitalizing on it — expertly.
As one of only two Democratic presidential candidates with military experience, Buttigieg has carefully used mention of his time as a Navy lieutenant to cover for his lack of foreign policy experience as an elected official. He hasn’t browbeaten any of his fellow contenders with his background, but his ability to weave his personal experience with exceptionally strong foreign policy analysis, at least relative to his competitors, has always been a strong mark.
In the weeks leading to the Iowa caucuses, his foreign policy may just become his greatest selling point.
Democrats overwhelmingly trust Joe Biden more than any other candidate on foreign policy — and by a greater margin than any other single issue. A national poll conducted by CNN in November found that nearly half of Democratic voters deemed Biden to be the best candidate on foreign policy, trailed by Bernie Sanders at 14%, Elizabeth Warren at 11%, and Buttigieg at 6%. No other topic polled had any candidate earning higher than 30% support. In a poll taken after the death of Soleimani, HuffPost/YouGov found that nearly two-thirds of voters trust Biden on Iran. Sanders and Warren trailed behind at 47%, and then Buttigieg at came in at 31%. (Those polled were allowed to enlist their trust in multiple candidates.)
As with most issues, it makes sense that Democrats would jump to Uncle Joe as their old reliable — that is, until you remember that Biden hasn’t been right on a single foreign policy issue in his entire life.
In no particular order of Biden’s faux pas, he opposed the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, he backed the Iran appeasement deal that necessitated the Soleimani killing in the first place, he backed the Iraq War but not the surges that saved the region, he backed President Barack Obama’s illegal war in Libya, and he spearheaded the Senate’s authorization of the illegal NATO bombing of Serbian civilians.
But Buttigieg has none of these follies clouding his record, and when you look at the other lane of the primary, it’s easy to see why voters would need another option immediately.
Over the weekend, Warren waffled when called to condemn Soleimani’s brutality.
Elizabeth Warren on the Qasem Soleimani strike: “I think that the question that we ought to focus on is why now? Why not a month ago and why not a month from now? And the answer from the administration seems to be that they can’t keep their story straight on this.” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/z1stQEjuOu
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) January 5, 2020
Not to be outdone, Bernie Sanders not only did the same thing as Warren but also refused any and all sanctions against Iran, precipitating the need to kill Soleimani. This is what Sanders’ surrogates were up to: fawning over terrorists and spreading literal fake news.
Is Shaun King okay? pic.twitter.com/g3CaecZbGk
— Danny Gold (@DGisSERIOUS) January 6, 2020
Here’s the impact of this despicable President’s actions – targeting Iranian Americans. Just like the Muslim ban, we easily broad brush an entire group of people. These are our fellow Americans. #NoWarOnIran #NoWarWithIran pic.twitter.com/c0fbAY37Fk
— Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) January 5, 2020
Biden is old and beloved, but he’s also old and replete with foreign policy baggage that will only continue to be more of a salient issue for him as the debate over Soleimani rages on. But Bernie is crazy, Warren is weak, and Buttigieg knows it.
Hence why Buttigieg took a below-the-fold foreign policy development that anyone to the left of Marco Rubio has conveniently forgotten and weighed in.
The illegitimate takeover of the Venezuelan National Assembly is further evidence that dictator Maduro will stop at nothing to consolidate his grip on power. I stand behind Juan Guaidó and the Venezuelan people as they strive to reclaim their democracy and defend their rights.
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) January 6, 2020
For almost a year now, nearly 60 governments, including our own, have recognized Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela. Buttigieg’s tweet, which doesn’t insinuate a single American boot on the ground, is eminently uncontroversial, and yet all you have to do is click on the replies and evaluate Bernie’s unhinged support for Maduro to understand how exceptionally Buttigieg is baiting the Left.
Voters tend to ignore foreign policy when it’s not prime-time news, so Buttigieg choosing to highlight the Guaido issue is an intentional one. He knows that Bernie’s acolytes will respond with their usual sycophancy for murderous dictators, and he knows how well that positions him to reclaim a high ground on the one issue that may seriously imperil Biden.
