POMPEO: Biden's Failed Foreign Policies Are on the Ballot This Election

We are now less than two weeks away from one of the most consequential elections of our lives; and while the coming days will be filled with soundbites, slogans, and perhaps even some surprises, it is imperative that the American people take a step back and see clearly what is at stake: not only the future of America, but the future of the world as well.

The foreign policy approaches offered by Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump could not be more different, and it is essential that every American understand how these differences will impact America’s national security and our economic well-being.  Looking at the facts, regardless of politics, the world is clearly far more dangerous after four years of Biden and Harris’ weakness.  They have eroded the deterrence we built during the Trump Administration.

Let’s begin with the Middle East.  In four years, we’ve gone from signing the creating a roadmap to peace in the Middle East with the Abraham Accords and bankrupting Iran to watching a multi-front war unfold due to the Biden-Harris Administration’s weakness and appeasement.  Where the Trump Administration imposed maximum pressure on Iran and sanctioned its oil exports, Biden and Harris have allowed Iran to reap tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue while paying out billions of dollars in ransom money to the Iranian regime – and in so doing, rewarding the regime’s malfeasance and putting billion-dollar bullseyes on Americans traveling in the region..

The Trump Administration designated the Houthis as a terrorist organization; Biden and Harris removed this designation and then failed to dislodge the Iranian proxy once it started attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea.  The Trump Administration ended American support for UNRWA, which was supporting terror, and attempted to hold Palestinian leaders accountable.  Biden and Harris boasted about resuming UNRWA payments and other Palestinian aid, only to watch an enriched Hamas commit despicable atrocities and slaughter innocent Israelis on October 7.  By playing to its antisemitic base and adhering to the failed Obama-era orthodoxy of cutting a deal with the Iranian regime, Biden and Harris have made a complete mess of the Middle East.

Alarmingly, Biden and Harris have treated Israel – not Iran – like the nation in the region that needs to be constrained.  Just this week, the Biden-Harris Administration leaked top-secret U.S. intelligence documents regarding Israel's preparation for an attack against Iran.  How could such sensitive information end up in the hands of our enemies?  Because this Administration has retained top officials with deeply troubling ties and sympathy to Iran throughout its tenure, all while routinely castigating Israel for simply defending itself.  Indeed, America, Israel, and the entire world are lucky that Israel did not listen when Biden and Harris tried to prevent it from going into Rafah, prosecuting its righteous war on Hamas, destroying Hezbollah, or deterring Iran.  The Trump Administration’s full support of Israel led to the Abraham Accords; Biden and Harris’ appeasement of Iran has led to war.

The Biden-Harris Administration also failed to keep Europe secure and peaceful.  In the Trump Administration, we established clear and focused deterrents that kept Russia from invading its neighbors while making historic progress in getting our NATO allies to contribute their fair share of defense spending.  It only took a year of Biden and Harris’ leadership for that deterrence and collective strength to evaporate.  Following Biden and Harris’ botched withdrawal from Afghanistan that got 13 American soldiers killed, Vladimir Putin began massing Russian troops along Ukraine’s border.  This Administration’s response?  It suggested a “minor incursion” would be permissible and made a weak threat of imposing sanctions.  Then, after Putin’s invasion began, the Administration was too slow in sending weapons and has, time and again, refused to send the weapons Ukraine needs to achieve any kind of victory.  As a result, the war continues today, and American soldiers stationed in Europe are in greater danger than they were four years ago.

Finally, the Biden-Harris Administration has failed to adequately deter the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  It has prioritized climate change diplomacy over holding the CCP accountable for committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.  Most concerningly, it has not adequately defended our homeland against the CCP’s influence and espionage operations. It allowed a Chinese spy balloon to traverse the entire continental United States before finally being shot down off the coast of South Carolina; it shut down the China Initiative, an anti-espionage program started in the Trump Administration focused solely on the CCP’s malign activities; and a major report released just this week found that “most (Biden-Harris) agencies’ solutions and policies either ignored, placated, or only weakly addressed the PRC’s political warfare.” In a recent interview, Kamala Harris chose not to name the Chinese Communist Party as America’s “greatest adversary.”  Americans must decide if they want an Administration that will appease the CCP for another four years.

The legacy of President Trump and our Administration’s time in office was the construction of a model of deterrence – based on commonsense principles – that kept our enemies at bay.  As a result, no new wars began on our watch, and we either ended or made real progress toward ending the conflicts our Administration inherited, from destroying ISIS to negotiating a conditions-based withdrawal of our forces from Afghanistan.  Our commitment to American strength and deterrence kept the American people safe, and it ensured the world remained stable without risking American lives.  Biden and Harris have squandered away our deterrence through weakness in dealing with our adversaries.

In the past four years, our enemies have become stronger, multiple wars have broken out, and America and our allies have been put on our back foot.   Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Ayatollah Khamenei, Kim Jong Un, Nicolas Maduro, and the regimes they lead are more committed than ever to imposing their designs on the world so that it is fundamentally hostile to the American way of life.  In less than two weeks, the American people will decide which leader they trust to reverse this course.  I pray they choose wisely.

Support the work of the ACLJ as we continue to bring you expert analysis and legal action on the issues that matter most.