Human Rights & Democracy
September 14, 2024: Kamala Harris Displays Commander-in-Chief Qualities in Debate With Donald Trump
Posted on September 24, 2024 at 12:00 AM
By Cynthia Efird, Member, Foreign Policy and National Security Task Force
Before the September 10 presidential debate, some pundits said Kamala Harris would need to prove her credentials in foreign policy and her ability to serve effectively as Commander-in-Chief if she hoped to be elected in November. During that event, she not only confirmed her ability to think strategically but also pointed out the fecklessness of her Republican rival: his combination of deceitful wishful thinking, unhinged opinions, worship of dictators, and ludicrous misapprehensions of foreign affairs.
The vast difference in ability between the candidates was underlined by a letter by National Security Leaders for America, signed by 10 generals and admirals, many who served in Republican administrations. Printed in Axios and amplified by a series of appearances on television the week of the debate, the letter assigns blame for the pull-out from Afghanistan—that claimed the lives of 13 American service members and hundreds of Afghans—to the actions of Donald Trump during his last months in the presidency.
The retired military leaders wrote: “Without involving the Afghan government, [Trump] and his Administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban that freed 5,000 Taliban fighters and then departed with no plans to execute a withdrawal or sufficient time to formulate one. … This chaotic approach severely hindered the Biden-Harris Administration’s ability to execute the most orderly withdrawal possible and put our service members and allies at risk.”
Trump, of course, thought he could dump the blame on Harris during the debate, but she handily turned the tables on him. She also pointed to his unwillingness to commit to preserving the freedom of Ukraine or standing up to Vladimir Putin, telling him that Putin “would eat you for lunch.” She added that if Trump had won a second term, “Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now.” In fact, although the moderator pushed Trump to commit to continuing the Western defense of Ukraine, he refused—making headlines that are reverberating dangerously now in a fearful Europe.
When Harris commented that in her meetings with more than 150 world leaders as vice president, she learned that they considered Trump a joke who could be manipulated by false praise and presents, Trump countered by emphasizing the high opinion of his abilities expressed by Viktor Orban, the leader of Hungary known for his authoritarian rule and destruction of democratic processes in that country. Trump tried to insist that he was equally respected by NATO leaders, despite his threats to dismantle that key alliance. As he has done before, he made up a ridiculous false “quote,” which he attributed to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, saying that “Without Donald Trump, maybe there would be no NATO.” Not surprisingly, fact checkers quickly debunked this statement as a bald-faced lie.
By contrast, as I wrote in this newsletter in November 2022, Harris has been a strong supporter of an effective and active foreign and security policy throughout her time as vice president, calling “audibles” on the field while traveling and cleaning up the messes that were still left after Trump’s departure. For example, during Harris’s third trip to Asia, as the U.S. representative to the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting in Bangkok, she prevented the Chinese leader Xi Jinping from dominating the center stage. In numerous bilateral meetings with presidents,
prime ministers, and other leaders, she emphasized that the U.S. is completely committed to the stability and economic health of the region.
When the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, probably emboldened by the “love letters” he had exchanged with Trump (the characterization is Trump’s own description of the correspondence), attempted to disrupt the APEC session by launching a long-range ballistic missile hours before the meeting began, Harris insisted that her staff quickly assemble a top-level meeting with worldwide media coverage. Sitting at the head of the U-shaped table, she accused North Korea of “brazen violations of multiple U.N. security resolutions” and reaffirmed the ironclad commitment of the U.S. to the Indo-Pacific alliance. No one could miss the almost audible sighs of relief of the other participants at her strong statement of the proactive U.S. response.
Harris continued on to the Philippines, where she spoke to representatives of the Filipino Coast Guard and local fishery workers at the village of Palawan near the disputed Spratly Islands. She denounced China’s attempt to dominate the South China Sea and announced an agreement to expand a program that temporarily assigns U.S. military personnel to five bases in the Philippines. The Filipino president welcomed the initiative and Harris’s strong statement of support for the Mutual Defense Treaty. Local news outlets noted the context: Just a few days before, the Chinese Navy had forcibly taken back Chinese rocket debris pulled from the sea by Filipino fishermen.
As vice president, Harris has never forgotten to combine her hard-hitting defense of U.S. interests with support for the U.S. values of gender equality and inclusion. In Manilla, she moderated a discussion with women leaders about women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship, concluding by noting, “Lift up the economic status of women and all of society benefits.” The press corps that accompanied her on her Asian trip were all women reporters who were given exceptional access. When women fish cleaners at work in Palawan called out, “Hi, Ma’am,” Harris laughed and agreed with her translator that they were all “best friends.” And, of course, as the first U.S. vice president of South Asian ethnicity, she is an example herself of U.S. openness to ability and ambition.
The presidential debate demonstrated the prowess of the Democratic nominee and underlined the importance of the November election, not just in terms of democracy in the United States but for the continued strength of democracy throughout the world. Let’s make sure that Kamala Harris becomes the next President of the United States!