Trump and Biden’s foreign leader choices this week reveal how they would govern
It’s basically an aphorism at this point that American voters almost never make a decision about their choice for president based on foreign policy. The only exception comes when Americans are in harm’s way, as Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George W Bush and Barack Obama can all attest.
At the same time, presidential candidates’ foreign policy reveals plenty about how what they value at home. Harry Truman’s desegregation of the reflected Democrats’ larger shift away from being the party of Southern racists to becoming the party of civil rights. Reagan’s ardent opposition to communism abroad reflected his desire to slash government spending at home.
