The vote makes the near-unanimous political freak-out over former Defense Secretary James Mattis’s principled resignation over Trump’s hasty withdrawal plans more than a bit disingenuous. And it suggests that if Democrats win the presidency in 2020, their standard-bearer would pursue a similar policy to Trump in Syria and Afghanistan—without the check that the Washington establishment, internal party dissent, and perhaps even the scrutiny that the press has provided during Trump’s presidency.
Put another way, if you believe in a muscular American national security posture, do you vote for the president whose instincts are reckless but is often checked by his party (and more significantly, his top staff)? Or with the party whose leading candidates agree with a Trump withdrawal strategy that much of the foreign policy establishment calls reckless?
Foreign policy is one of those rare issues that has transcended partisanship throughout the Trump presidency.
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