Harris and the Democrats' 'Defensive Crouch' on Foreign Policy

Harris hasn’t given us many reasons to expect much improvement from her foreign policy, but putting a Republican in charge of State or Defense would be a serious mistake right out of the gate.

Eliot Cohen’s foreign policy advice for a possible Harris administration is as bad as you would expect. Among other things, he recommends appointing a Republican to one of the top Cabinet positions:

Selecting a Republican secretary of state or secretary of defense, chosen possibly from the Senate or the saner parts of the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives, would be an act of statesmanship—and one which, encouragingly, she recently pledged to take.

Harris hasn’t given us many reasons to expect much improvement from her foreign policy, but putting a Republican in charge of State or Defense would be a serious mistake right out of the gate. Republicans have been coasting for decades on their earlier reputation for foreign policy competence that they haven’t deserved for at least thirty years.