Partisanship in the United States is as deep-rooted and intense as it has ever been in my lifetime. But if there is one issue that brings people of all political stripes together, it’s the notion that the U.S. needs to be far more judicious about when it uses the military and more restrained in where it deploys troops. President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden can read the electorate as well as anyone, which is why both have sought to portray themselves as anti-war candidates during this election cycle.
Trump and Biden are polar opposites in terms of temperament, style, and worldview, but both are expressing their intent to cut America’s losses in unwinnable conflicts and remove the country from the time-consuming, expensive quicksand that is nation-building overseas. Bringing U.S. troops home was a key part of Trump’s 2016 campaign platform and remains a compelling talking point for the president today. Accepting the Republican presidential nomination at the White House in August, Trump told delegates in attendance that “unlike previous administrations, I have kept America out of new wars, and our troops are coming home.” Biden has used similar rhetoric in his own speeches: “It’s long past time we end the forever wars, which have cost us untold blood and treasure.”
