The stakes in this year’s presidential election are the greatest in my lifetime. So as a way to frame the choice before voters, I offer these foreign policy questions for President Biden and Donald Trump in the debate on Thursday:
President Biden, for months you called on Israel to refrain from invading Rafah and to allow more food into Gaza. Yet Israel did invade Rafah, and half a million Gazans are reported starving. Haven’t you been ignored? And isn’t that because of your tendency to overestimate how much you can charm people — Senate Republicans, Xi Jinping, Benjamin Netanyahu — to cooperate with you? When will you move beyond charm and use serious leverage to try to achieve peace in the Middle East?
Mr. Trump, the Abraham Accords you achieved among Israel and several Arab countries were a legitimate foreign policy success, but you largely bypassed Palestinians. Perhaps as a result, those accords may have been a reason Hamas undertook its terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, to prevent Saudi Arabia from joining and recognizing Israel. So did the Abraham Accords bring peace or sow the seeds of war? Isn’t it a mistake to ignore Palestinians and to give Israel what it wants, such as moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, without getting anything in return?
President Biden, you have been pushing a plan for Gaza that involves a cease-fire and a three-way deal with Saudi Arabia, America and Israel ending in a path to Palestinian statehood. Maybe it’ll come together, but if not, what’s your Plan B? If this war drags on, or expands to include Lebanon and perhaps Iran, how do you propose to deal with the Middle East more effectively than you’ve dealt with it so far?
Mr. Trump, you’ve suggested that Israel is taking too long to finish the war in Gaza. So what precisely are you advocating? Are you saying that Israel should use more 2,000-pound bombs to level even more of Gaza and kill many more civilians? Or are you saying that Israel should cut a deal that leaves Hamas in place and then pull out?
President Biden, Iran has enriched uranium to close to bomb-grade levels. In days or weeks, it could probably produce enough fuel for three nuclear weapons (though mastering a delivery system would take longer). Can we live with an Iran that is a quasi-nuclear power? What is the alternative?
Mr. Trump, the reason Iran is so close to having nuclear weapons is that you pulled out of the international nuclear deal in 2018, leading Iran to greatly accelerate its nuclear program. Since you created this dangerous situation, how do you suggest we get out of it? If you are president again, do you contemplate solving this problem through a war with Iran — one that might now involve nuclear weapons? Or will you accept a nuclear Iran as the consequence of your historic mistake?
President Biden, under pressure from voters, you’ve reversed yourself and taken a much harsher stance on immigration. But the biggest crisis on the Mexican border isn’t people crossing it, but fentanyl, meth and other drugs. Chinese companies ship precursors of the drugs to Mexico, where they are turned into fentanyl and other banned substances and then sent north — and we now have more than 100,000 Americans a year dying from overdoses. How will you address that crisis in a serious way?
Mr. Trump, you have talked about military attacks on Mexico to address drug cartels — but experts think that military strikes would end Mexican cooperation and make the drug and immigration issues worse. You talk tough, but drug overdose deaths soared during your presidency. At the same time, your administration separated children from parents at the border and did it so incompetently that some 1,200 immigrant children still have not been reunited with their families. So what would you do on the Mexican border in a second term that would work better?
President Biden, you have rallied the world behind Ukraine and given that country enough weapons to survive — but not enough to win. You’ve slow-walked some weapons systems because of concern that Russia might respond with tactical nuclear weapons, but isn’t it dangerous to signal to China and Iran that we yield to nuclear blackmail?
Mr. Trump, are you ready to desert Ukraine and force a peace deal that would be a victory for aggression and for Vladimir Putin? And does it concern you that your own former national security aides denounce you, while some of those who have worked hard to elect you are Russian?
President Biden and Mr. Trump, a joint question: What should the United States do about humanitarian crises in places like Sudan, now teetering on the edge of famine and genocide? Are you open to military interventions to avert mass atrocities? Or to using intelligence and diplomatic tools to do more to save lives in places where our interests may not be at stake but our values are?
President Biden, You’ve now asserted four times that you would use military force to defend Taiwan, even as your aides sometimes try to walk this back. So have you changed American policy to a clear-cut commitment to defend Taiwan? And what about the South China Sea, where a dangerous situation is building? If China attacks Philippine naval vessels there, will you dispatch U.S. forces to defend the Philippines, even if that means war with China?
Mr. Trump, you’ve suggested that maybe Taiwan is on its own. Is that your position? You talk about the importance of projecting strength, so why in the case of Ukraine and Taiwan are you so ready to project weakness? And after a first term characterized by chaos and by global mockery of your leadership, why should we expect a second term would be better?
