Progressives can’t afford to spend the next 4 years just being defensive

With someone as opposed to progressive values ​​as Donald Trump about to return to the White House, it may seem like an odd time to point to a glimmer of hope, but bear with me. The Democratic establishment has screwed up again. It turns out that very serious people are anything but serious. They got the government they wanted. They ran the campaign they wanted. They failed again. This may be more true in foreign policy than in other areas, where the Biden administration is most resistant to progressive influences and least willing to break with decades of orthodoxy. Not coincidentally, this is also the area where Biden’s defeat has been most severe and the consequences most severe, with the Gaza Strip bearing the brunt.

Now, progressives have an opportunity to chart a new course and craft a foreign policy that’s better suited for America and the world today. Before we begin, it’s worth taking a closer look at the Biden administration’s record for policies worth preserving — because there are some. Most importantly he broke with neoliberal economic and trade policies that enriched multinational corporations at the expense of American workers. Ending the war in Afghanistan and reducing drone attacks are also important. Biden steers Washington toward better relations with Latin America (the work his administration did in helping avert a possible coup in Brazil should not be forgotten). These are commendable initiatives that we should continue to defend and build upon.

Just as we decided which Biden policies were babies and which were bathwater, we should do the same for Trump. While we must not underestimate the dangers a Trump restoration poses to our democracy, we also need to avoid thinking that knee-jerk resistance to anything Trump does is an effective way to defend democracy.

Trump claims to want to end the war. Let’s be ready and do everything we can to make him do that. Rather than viewing his diplomatic moves as an opportunity to attack Trump as “weak” — a mistake too many Democrats made when Trump met with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in 2018 — the left should be prepared to support negotiations with adversaries ( So of course, as long as Trump doesn’t put personal interests ahead of national interests). The Iranian government has expressed its willingness to talk to the United States. We should hope that Trump will reciprocate, rather than squandering such an opportunity early in his term, as Biden did. Peace in Ukraine? Yes, that’s fine, but we should be clear that the terms of the peace are important. (Robert Farley and I recently discussed foreign policy Establish parameters for a lasting ceasefire to preserve Ukraine’s security and independence.

While Trump presents himself as a champion of workers, he is more likely to unleash the most predatory forms of capitalism on American workers, redirecting their resulting anger toward unfavored minorities and foreign enemies. However, if he shows a willingness to build a truly fairer post-neoliberal agenda, we should encourage him. Like Bernie Sanders, Trump has long claimed that “the system is rigged” — and he’s right, even though it’s clearly rigged for wealthy elites like Trump. But let’s call his bluff and offer to work together to crack the system, starting with campaign finance reform.

At the same time, we must oppose the many dangerous and inhumane policies that Trump has promised: mass deportations, a new Muslim ban, a war with Mexico, new sanctions on a range of countries, and the general recklessness that has led us to this mess.

But we can’t just defend. Progressive Democrats need to offer a real alternative vision for our country’s role in the world, recognizing that our security and prosperity are tied to the security and prosperity of communities around the world, and therefore seeking to build a more equitable and united global society—rules-based of order, but this time for real. We need to ensure that the next Democratic administration works toward a new, more progressive foreign policy consensus, rather than simply distinguishing the differences between Trump and the old consensus, as Biden has done.

We should approach this work with confidence, remembering that the progressive left has been right about all the key foreign policy issues of the past few decades: the impact of corporate-led globalization (November marks the 25th anniversary of the labor and environmentalist movements) Led protests at the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle that mainstream Washington derided—they’ve now gotten the memo); the war in Iraq; the war on terror. We were right about Gaza over the past 14 months. Those who mock all of these positions are the same ones who have just pushed the Democratic Party into the abyss. We should not let them or anyone forget that.