There was a time not long ago when countries looked to the United States as more than a global police department. The physical ability to enforce rules and a particular U.S.-centric agenda on the world was an outgrowth of a general acknowledgment that America was the preeminent world leader, and crossing it would not be in anyone’s interests.
In recent years, U.S. foreign policy has taken a beating. Former President Donald Trump signaled that his “America First” ideas were more than campaign rhetoric.
President Joe Biden campaigned on a message of reinforcing international relationships and telling the world America isn’t running away from the world stage. That message is being repeated by Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid to win the White House and lengthen the tail of the Biden administration’s policies.
However, with two major conflicts breaking out on Biden’s watch, including the largest land war in Europe since World War Two and a terrorist attack in Israel that killed the largest number of Jews in a single swipe since the Holocaust, it appears as though America has lost its vigor. Global competitors are acting without fear of retaliation, and allies are dancing around, keeping the U.S. in the know so they can carry out their wars as they see fit, using U.S. weapons and training but forgoing any other interference.
The Washington Examiner is looking at this sea change in a series this week called Lost Authority. This morning, Foreign Affairs Reporter Joel Gehrke is up with the first part — a look at the erosion of respect that has occurred under the leadership of the Biden administration.
Ukrainian officials told Joel they are happy to have materiel sent by the U.S. so they can maintain the defense of their country while Russian President Vladimir Putin throws conscripted soldiers into the meat grinder on the front lines of the war. But they are frustrated with the hand-tying that accompanies those weapons.
“So they’re allowed to use their territory … to shell us, and we’re not allowed to hit these sources of the shelling,” Oleksandr Merezhko, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the Ukrainian parliament, told Joel. “It’s ludicrous. It’s absurd, from the point of view of logic, not only from the point of view of military necessity.”
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is beset on all sides with a multifront war that is dividing the military’s attention and splitting public opinion among Democrats in the U.S.
Ignoring the ire of Biden and his party, Israel has reportedly assassinated two key leaders of Hamas, the terrorist organization and ruling power in the Gaza Strip. The precision strikes reportedly angered Biden, who has been trying to negotiate a ceasefire and hostage deal in the region.
Israel wants to bring hostages home, but Israel Defense Forces determined eliminating Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh and senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr would have a greater effect on the war than sitting down in a room with Hamas negotiators who don’t appear interested in doing business.
Assassinating enemy leaders across borders and discussions about striking deep into the heart of Russia are seen, by the Biden administration, as escalatory efforts that don’t bring the end of conflicts any closer to hand. But for the countries most deeply affected by those moves, there is no time to consider whether they are offending the U.S. — they are more interested in survival.
“We are allies, but our strategy is basically that, if we will be hit, we will hit back as deeply into Russia as possible,” a senior European official who participated in a recent internal strategy discussion among NATO-member states told Joel. “And we are not asking whether Washington is thinking it’s escalatory or not.”
Click here to read more about America’s Lost Authority.
Testing the limits
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) has the steepest path to reelection of anyone in his party this cycle, and new reporting about his coziness with select venture capitalists isn’t making his life any easier.
The Montana dirt farmer and senator has done a lot of work to sell his constituents on the benefits of Biden’s big-ticket CHIPS and Science Act. Republicans have a complicated relationship with many of the administration’s big-spending initiatives. They want to see less government spending — or at least have it focused in different areas.
Tester has been a champion of the spending and has benefited personally from relationships that have come out of the investments, perhaps too much so, according to Senate Reporter Ramsey Touchberry.
“Executives at two technology companies met privately with [Tester] and donated to his reelection campaign as he helped secure federal funding for their tech hub in Montana,” Ramsey wrote this morning.
“The leadership team of defense-focused artificial intelligence company Reveal Technologies and venture capital firm Next Frontier Capital, part of a consortium focused on defense technology, gave nearly $30,000 in personal donations to the Tester campaign and an affiliated joint fundraising committee, according to federal fundraising records reviewed by the Washington Examiner,” he wrote.
Wheeling and dealing is part and parcel of being a senator, but Tester’s tight connections with the executives and lobbyists appeared to be strung together by well-timed donations that coincided with meetings between them.
“I think we need to really tighten up, to say they shouldn’t be meeting with people who can make contributions at all,” Richard Painter, a chief ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, told Ramsey. “This is the type of thing that doesn’t promote public confidence in the government.”
What’s worse for Tester is that while he wasn’t alone in promoting Headwaters Hub and steering $41 million in grant money toward the consortium, he is one of the only members of the Montana delegation to receive donations from officials associated with the project.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) also supported the CHIPS and Science Act and granting money to the hub, but he didn’t receive any donations from Reveal or Next Frontier, Ramsey wrote. There was also a $50 donation from Reveal to Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) in 2022, but that was a drop in the bucket compared to Tester’s donations.
Click here to read more about the latest roadblock to Tester’s reelection.
Trump — friend of the pods
Besides frantic zigzagging from stop to stop on the campaign trail, Trump is carving out hours of time to sit down with alternative media in a bid to reach new voters.
The former president famously benefited from billions of dollars in earned media when he ran for office in 2016. News outlets kept cameras on empty podiums for hours, waiting for him to appear and give a show.
He used his star power during his presidency, leveraging X, then Twitter, to circumvent traditional media outlets and speak directly to his biggest fans — and his biggest critics.
Since leaving the White House and getting kicked off his favorite platforms, Trump has established his own social media network and is a darling of YouTube alternatives like Rumble.
All of those moves might be Trump’s rejection of the mainstream and establishment institutions he feels he’s been rejected by. Or it could be a savvy political move allowing him to tap into millions of voters who are amenable to his message but aren’t historically active participants in electoral politics. Trump could be building an Obama-lite coalition of once-disengaged voters who can be roused to send him back to the White House.
In particular, White House Reporter Haisten Willis wrote for us this morning, Trump’s regular appearances on podcasts in recent weeks will help him bolster support with young men — who say they lean toward him but aren’t the most reliable constituents on Election Day.
“Trump has toured the podcast circuit in recent months, recording lengthy interviews with male influencers from comedian Theo Von to wrestler Logan Paul to streamer Adin Ross. He even did a two-hour podcast-style interview with X owner Elon Musk. The strategy, it appears, is to reach young men who may have conservative leanings and could be convinced to back Trump, if they decide to vote,” Haisten wrote.
The strategy is a safe one for Trump that allows him to sit down with relatively friendly hosts and answer questions about his policies, as well as his personal life. He had a particularly tender moment with Von on his show last week when the comedian got Trump to talk about his son’s fondness for the program and what a good athlete he is.
And Trump can use his appearances as a cudgel against Harris, who hasn’t sat down for an interview since she was tapped to replace Biden. She told reporters earlier this month that she wanted to “schedule” an interview by the end of August, but that window is closing, and there doesn’t appear to be any movement on that front.
Trump is an old hand at campaigning by this point. His 2016 outfit appeared at times to be careering from one appearance to the next, running on a head of steam the last one built up. In 2020, the world was shuttered, and his schedule was cramped by his duties as the incumbent president.
Now, he has seen a little bit of everything a campaign can throw at him, including an attempted assassination. Mixing in alternative media, while a possible risk, according to some strategists, could be the double-edged sword that vanquishes his opponent and puts him back in power.
Click here to read more about Trump’s podcast tour.
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For your radar
Biden will receive the president’s daily brief at 10 a.m. and has nothing on his public schedule.
Harris will join Biden to receive the daily brief and later deliver a video message during the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s 52nd Quadrennial Session of the General Conference.
Trump will hold a town hall in La Crosse, Wisconsin, at 7 p.m. Eastern time.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) campaigns in Big Rapids, Michigan, at 1:30 p.m.
