Presidential hopeful Joe Biden attacked President Donald Trump for his “America First” stance this week in New York, saying that he would put an end to “forever wars” if he’s elected president.
Calling the president’s foreign policy “incompetent,” the vice president said Trump is acting against U.S. interests by not playing the role of world police.
“The world’s democracies look to America to stand for the values that unite us … Donald Trump seems to be on the other team,” he said, adding that if the U.S. does not lead the world in a strong alliance to fight climate change and put together new trade agreements, “some nation will step into the vacuum — or no one will, and chaos will prevail.”
To Biden, Trump is toxic because he “[embraces] dictators who appeal to his vanity.” But could it be that the presidential candidate is only against eternal wars when North Korea isn’t involved?
After the two Democratic presidential debates, polls showed that Sen. Kamala Harris has become more popular. Biden, on the other hand, saw a considerable drop in support. It’s almost as if the promise of Medicare for All, abortions for all, immigration for all, and free college for all weren’t enough to get the public to warm up to President Obama’s former partner in crime. Now, he’s going where he never went before by promising peace — just not the type of peace that relies on diplomacy, of course.
When Obama was in the White House, Biden seemed less than confident that a restrained policy in Syria was the way to go. And while he voted against the first Gulf War in the 1980s as a senator, he did try to establish a no-fly zone in Darfur in 2007, suggesting that the U.S. should send troops to the region, just as the Obama administration did later in Libya.
He also voted for the Iraq war, saying in 2003 that he would do it again. And when Bill Clinton was in power, he acted as one of the loudest voices behind the 1999 bombing of Serbia. So much so that in 2009 when he visited the region, he was received by locals with posters calling him “Nazi scum.” Not surprising, as Biden was one of the reasons why Clinton felt confident enough to bomb them in the name of peace and democracy.
Additionally, Biden supported the war on Afghanistan, and was also a big supporter of Obama’s covert war in the Middle East led by drones, which allowed the president to put his kill list to use.
Trump might be no dove, and he’s definitely let down his own supporters by attacking Syria in the past for no apparent reason. But he is definitely not the hawk that Biden has been his entire career. So when the presidential candidate promises to put an end to forever wars, let us not forget his record, whether as a senator or as the vice president.
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