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But other Americans who are not as steadfastly Republican might be hesitating. They shouldn’t be. The world is in turmoil. But the GOP would help itself if a strong national security team were named now — its proverbial “Wise Men and Wise Women”— and “on the ballot” (if not formally) if it really wants to win. The candidates should tell voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and beyond the names of those with whom they will govern.
The Republican nominee has an opportunity to draw in a significant slice of Democrats despairing over the direction of their party, especially on the question of Israel. Anyone watching what has happened on U.S. college campuses in the past seven weeks has to objectively evaluate the young left’s direction and consider its advance guard already in the House (in “the Squad”) or in the bureaucracy and objecting to President Biden’s support of Israel. They must conclude that the Democratic Party is not simply drifting leftward; it runs a real risk of heading to the hard left.
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Note this: Among Democratic voters age 18 to 34, an NBC poll shows a whopping 70 percent of them disapproving of Biden’s handling of the war. This is a generational shift, and a dire one for Israel. It isn’t a huge leap to imagine that this hard left will shape the future of the Democratic Party. If Democrats win in 2024 or 2028, there would be an ever-increasing number of powerful people who are committed to the poisonous “oppressed/oppressor” framework for interpreting the entire world.
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Even if party leaders don’t subscribe to these views themselves, they would be forced to contend with them. It’s frightening to imagine the presence of this worldview in every branch of government, especially the judiciary.
Last month’s massacre of at least 1,200 Israelis, the wounding of thousands more and the kidnapping of 240 by Hamas to Gaza has proved to be an acid test — and too much of the Democratic Party has failed it, in whole or in part. The president’s trip to Israel, and his championing of Israel’s right to defend itself, was a high-water mark for Democrats’ behavior in this matter. But the White House’s yo-yo-like messaging since then has been discomfiting. The numbers demanding a “cease-fire” in Gaza — which would redound to the benefit of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group — ought to stun and disorient traditional Democratic supporters.
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Israel is engaged in what ultimately amounts to a war for survival against a genocidal enemy — Hamas is just its vanguard. The war right now is being waged in Gaza, but Hezbollah’s terrorist legions await on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, and Iran, the deadliest threat, bides its time. There isn’t a middle ground here, any more than there is a middle ground regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or China’s genocide of the Uyghurs. In fact, this is one confrontation — whether the front line is Gaza, or Ukraine or, eventually, Taiwan.
The GOP has its small but loud isolationist streak, but the threat it poses to the West is quite different from the hard left’s militant anti-Israel rhetoric. Any aspiring Republican presidential nominee would be helped by detailing the top three-dozen folks they would take into government with them. Let’s compare that list with the new generation of Democrats, the voices who will likely shape the party for years to come.
I would like to see the GOP candidates draw from this roster for vice-presidential picks or high Cabinet positions (in alphabetical order): Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.), Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa), Rep. Mike Gallagher (Wis.), former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, former national security adviser Robert C. O’Brien and Sen. Dan Sullivan (Alaska). All are serious about the state of the world; all are serious about national security. Thus Republican candidates would perform a public service by illuminating the path they’d take, contrasting the parties’ roads ahead. Presented with this choice, don’t be surprised if Americans, including lifelong Democrats, move their allegiance away from extremism and toward stability.
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In the 2024 presidential election, I will, of course, vote for whomever the GOP nominates, whether it’s former president Donald Trump, or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, or former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, or former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
But other Americans who are not as steadfastly Republican might be hesitating. They shouldn’t be. The world is in turmoil. But the GOP would help itself if a strong national security team were named now — its proverbial “Wise Men and Wise Women”— and “on the ballot” (if not formally) if it really wants to win. The candidates should tell voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and beyond the names of those with whom they will govern.
The Republican nominee has an opportunity to draw in a significant slice of Democrats despairing over the direction of their party, especially on the question of Israel. Anyone watching what has happened on U.S. college campuses in the past seven weeks has to objectively evaluate the young left’s direction and consider its advance guard already in the House (in “the Squad”) or in the bureaucracy and objecting to President Biden’s support of Israel. They must conclude that the Democratic Party is not simply drifting leftward; it runs a real risk of heading to the hard left.
Note this: Among Democratic voters age 18 to 34, an NBC poll shows a whopping 70 percent of them disapproving of Biden’s handling of the war. This is a generational shift, and a dire one for Israel. It isn’t a huge leap to imagine that this hard left will shape the future of the Democratic Party. If Democrats win in 2024 or 2028, there would be an ever-increasing number of powerful people who are committed to the poisonous “oppressed/oppressor” framework for interpreting the entire world.
Even if party leaders don’t subscribe to these views themselves, they would be forced to contend with them. It’s frightening to imagine the presence of this worldview in every branch of government, especially the judiciary.
Last month’s massacre of at least 1,200 Israelis, the wounding of thousands more and the kidnapping of 240 by Hamas to Gaza has proved to be an acid test — and too much of the Democratic Party has failed it, in whole or in part. The president’s trip to Israel, and his championing of Israel’s right to defend itself, was a high-water mark for Democrats’ behavior in this matter. But the White House’s yo-yo-like messaging since then has been discomfiting. The numbers demanding a “cease-fire” in Gaza — which would redound to the benefit of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group — ought to stun and disorient traditional Democratic supporters.
Israel is engaged in what ultimately amounts to a war for survival against a genocidal enemy — Hamas is just its vanguard. The war right now is being waged in Gaza, but Hezbollah’s terrorist legions await on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, and Iran, the deadliest threat, bides its time. There isn’t a middle ground here, any more than there is a middle ground regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or China’s genocide of the Uyghurs. In fact, this is one confrontation — whether the front line is Gaza, or Ukraine or, eventually, Taiwan.
The GOP has its small but loud isolationist streak, but the threat it poses to the West is quite different from the hard left’s militant anti-Israel rhetoric. Any aspiring Republican presidential nominee would be helped by detailing the top three-dozen folks they would take into government with them. Let’s compare that list with the new generation of Democrats, the voices who will likely shape the party for years to come.
I would like to see the GOP candidates draw from this roster for vice-presidential picks or high Cabinet positions (in alphabetical order): Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.), Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa), Rep. Mike Gallagher (Wis.), former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, former national security adviser Robert C. O’Brien and Sen. Dan Sullivan (Alaska). All are serious about the state of the world; all are serious about national security. Thus Republican candidates would perform a public service by illuminating the path they’d take, contrasting the parties’ roads ahead. Presented with this choice, don’t be surprised if Americans, including lifelong Democrats, move their allegiance away from extremism and toward stability.
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