The presidential debate on Tuesday night offered a refreshing change from the aggressive tone of the 2024 campaign. Instead of competing to be more hawkish than the other, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump both emphasized the importance of peace. Harris even highlighted her role in ending an “endless war,” a stark contrast to the typically hawkish Democratic platform.
However, when it came to outlining concrete plans to end current conflicts, both candidates fell short. Trump proposed a vague peace plan for Ukraine, while Harris struggled to articulate a clear strategy for Gaza. Despite praising the end of the Afghan war, Harris criticized Trump for negotiating the truce that allowed U.S. forces to withdraw, accusing him of appeasing terrorists.
In recent months, both candidates had taken a hawkish stance that was out of touch with public opinion. A poll commissioned by the Cato Institute found that swing state voters believe the U.S. is too involved in foreign conflicts and are concerned about the risk of escalating to a world war. Harris and Trump attempted to appeal to these sentiments without committing to diplomacy or restraint.
While Harris praised President Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, she criticized Trump’s peace deal as weak. Trump defended his negotiations with the Taliban, emphasizing the necessity of engaging with adversaries to achieve peace. He also promised to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, but offered little detail on how he would accomplish this.
The debate also touched on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with both candidates presenting conflicting views on the situation. Harris emphasized the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and expressed support for Israel’s defense against threats from Iran and its proxies. Trump accused Harris of being anti-Israel and claimed that his administration would have prevented the conflict by imposing economic sanctions on Iran.
Sanctions are gradually losing their effectiveness over time. During a recent debate, Trump made the claim that “Iran has $300 billion because they removed all the sanctions that I had imposed.” The source of this number is unclear, as is the meaning of “28 different spheres of terror.” Just two months ago, former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stated that Iran had lost $300 billion in oil revenue during the Biden era.
During the same debate, Harris asserted that there is currently no active duty member of the United States military in a combat zone, marking the first time this century. However, US forces are still engaged in older battles from the war on terror, as well as new conflicts stemming from the war in Gaza spilling into the region. Recently, seven US troops were injured during a raid in Iraq.
The Biden administration has been accused of failing to acknowledge these ongoing conflicts, using legal maneuvers to avoid reporting to Congress. For example, rather than admitting to waging a naval war off the coast of Yemen, the administration is treating each clash as a separate incident. Similarly, the Trump administration attempted to portray deliberate escalations against Iran as spontaneous acts of self-defense.
It appears that the new bipartisan consensus is to ignore ongoing wars rather than actively working to end them.
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