Lincoln Mitchell

Because it is much better to have thoughtful and decent adults in charge of foreign policy

I have never believed the platitudes about the US being a unique force for good in the world. That is an unsophisticated, and in many cases bizarre, understanding of global politics and history. However, I believe that how American power and influence is used is of critical importance to our global future.

That question is central to this election. When the American people make their choice for president during the remaining days of this election, we will be choosing whether we want our country to play a significant role in combating climate change and working with other countries to prevent or respond to the next pandemic, and whether we want to be on the side of democracy or to be a node in a transnational authoritarian movement that is currently led from Moscow and Beijing.

A Harris administration would, like all administrations, prioritize American interests, which means sometimes siding with authoritarian regimes, but also supporting democracy and human rights in dozens of countries. A Harris administration would also continue to make the US a counterbalance to Russian efforts to expand their influence and authoritarian system in Europe, including Ukraine and Georgia, and would continue to support organizations advocating for media freedom, fair elections, and LGBT equality around the world.

The Trump administration would follow its “America First” slogan—a phrase that was first used by the noted Nazi sympathizer Charles Lindbergh—to withdraw from the rest of the world, while allowing Beijing and Moscow to expand their influence and authoritarian model, and at the same time treating climate change—which is the greatest threat to our national security—as a hoax.

A Harris foreign policy would not be perfect. No administration’s ever is, but the alternative is a Trump administration that would side with the authoritarians, encourage and indulge the far right in Israel, accelerate climate change, abandon long-standing allies, and embrace the fantasy that if the US walls itself off (in some cases literally) from the rest of the world, global problems will go away.

One of the many reasons I am voting for Harris and Walz is that I believe it is much better to have thoughtful and decent adults in charge of foreign policy than it is to turn foreign policy over to a president who is ignorant about the world, cares only about himself, is enthralled by strongmen like Vladimir Putin, and thinks climate change is not real.

Lincoln Mitchell teaches in the School of International and Public Affairs and Department of Political Science at Columbia University. His ninth book, Three Years Our Mayor: George Moscone and the Making of Modern San Francisco, will be published in 2025.