2020 race: The one thing 23 Democrats aren鈥檛 talking about
| AMHERST, N.H.
Of all the Democrats vying to be leader of the free world, Seth Moulton may be the only one who actually talks much about the world.
An ex-Marine who served four combat tours in Iraq, Representative Moulton of Massachusetts has tried to stand out in the crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates by emphasizing military and foreign-policy issues. He says it鈥檚 important for his party to highlight the hash President Donald Trump has made of the聽U.S. global role by alienating allies and embracing authoritarians.
鈥淚 think we have a historic opportunity to reclaim the mantle of leadership on national security,鈥� he says between campaign stops in New Hampshire in which he calls for Democrats to quit ceding patriotism to Republicans. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know why so many Democrats are passing it up, but I鈥檓 not going to pass it up.鈥�
Why We Wrote This
Can U.S. foreign policy be a winning campaign issue? Republicans have traditionally had an advantage on national security, but Democratic dark horse Seth Moulton wants to flip that script in the 2020 race.
Let Joe Biden emphasize electability. Bernie Sanders can talk about corporate power all he wants. While Kamala Harris and the rest of the field debate the fine points of expanding health care, Mr. Moulton says he is focused on restoring America鈥檚 moral authority in the world.
So far he hasn鈥檛 gained much traction. Mr. Moulton remains a blip in the polls, far behind the leaders. There may be multiple reasons he has yet to catch fire, but one could be this: Foreign policy is a difficult electoral issue.
Foreign issues seldom sway voters, particularly in primaries. For candidates, they can be tripping hazards best avoided. It鈥檚 easy to make a foreign-policy gaffe 鈥� mispronouncing a foreign leader鈥檚 name, say, or placing their nation on the wrong continent. But it鈥檚 hard to get a campaign rally excited by calls to 鈥渟upport the liberal international order.鈥�
Still, 2020 could be different. Mr. Trump鈥檚 disruptive approach to foreign policy, from his threats to Iran to his denigration of longtime NATO allies, may indeed have made some voters wary. Fifty-seven percent of likely voters believe Mr. Trump has 鈥渕ade America less respected around the world,鈥� according to a new poll from National Security Action, a Democratic-leaning group. Sixty-seven percent think Mr. Trump 鈥渓acks the temperament鈥� to be commander in chief.
Whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee could attack Mr. Trump directly on his record as head of the U.S. armed forces, despite the Republican Party鈥檚 customary advantage on security and foreign issues. At a time when Trumpism has shaken up traditional GOP thinking on national security, experts say there is indeed an opportunity for a centrist Democrat to gain political ground.
鈥淲hen I think about some of the more thoughtful people over the last 20 years on the Republican side on how to manage irregular threats, and to think about emerging peer competitors, those voices are gone,鈥� says Richard Shultz, director of the International Security Studies Program at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Medford, Massachusetts. 鈥淪o you have the president, whose foreign policy is chaotic, and you have [national security] documents that are drafted that to me are challengeable. ... It鈥檚 the kind of argument a Biden could make.鈥�
But former Vice President Biden, who first ran for president when Mr. Moulton was in elementary school, is not making such arguments. Not yet, at least.
鈥淥ne of the most striking things about the Democratic primary so far 鈥� aside from the sheer number of candidates running 鈥� is how little any of them has said about foreign policy,鈥澛犅燡onathan Tepperman, editor of Foreign Policy magazine, last month.
鈥淚 think Biden will increasingly step it up,鈥澛爏ays聽David Gergen, a political analyst and professor of public service who taught Mr. Moulton at Harvard Kennedy School. 鈥淏ut Seth right now is one of the only go-to people.鈥�
Pushups on the stump
Mr. Moulton, dressed in his standard campaigning uniform 鈥� a blue shirt (no tie) and khaki pants 鈥� kicked off a recent Sunday morning with a veterans fundraiser outside Boston. Since he arrived too late to do pushups with the participants, he ended his stump speech with a set of 28, ramrod straight.
鈥淟et鈥檚 see Joe Biden do that!鈥� someone shouted.
Mr. Biden, the current Democratic front-runner, may not be much competition in calisthenics, but he has decades more foreign-policy experience and is way ahead in the polls.
Unless聽Mr. Moulton gets 65,000 donors to give at least $1 to his campaign by June 12, he won鈥檛 be allowed to participate in the first couple of debates. And he must double that to make the third debate.
A small crowd of potential donors is waiting for Mr. Moulton when he arrives an hour later at the Black Forest Caf茅 in Amherst, famed for its whoopie pies. Some attendees have driven more than an hour to hear him talk about how education, climate change, and immigration are all national security issues, affecting Americans right here at home.
He lambasts Mr. Trump鈥檚 foreign policy, pointing to recent events: the president鈥檚 鈥渂est buddy in North Korea鈥� firing off missiles again, a 鈥渇ailed coup鈥� in Venezuela, a march toward 鈥渨ar with Iran.鈥�
The Trump administration has repeatedly said it is not seeking war. It has justified the current U.S. military buildup as a response to attacks on several oil tankers for which Washington blamed Iran. But the escalation has brought a certain sense of d茅j脿 vu for some.
鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing to me that in this drumroll for war in Iran, we clearly haven鈥檛 learned the lessons of Iraq,鈥� says Mr. Moulton, who was awarded the Bronze Star in Iraq. But even while he was still fighting, the young Marine was already becoming disillusioned with what he saw as a misguided military adventure. That eventually led him to run for Congress 鈥� and now the presidency.
鈥淚f people who have seen the worst of war don鈥檛 stand up and do these jobs in Washington, then people in Washington are going to keep doing this,鈥� he says.
Clear eyes about Trump鈥檚 support
Many supporters of Mr. Trump praise him for asserting American strength, critics be damned. They see his direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as far more promising than the decades of stalemate under previous presidents. They hail him for calling out Iranian aggression in the Middle East, and cheer on his tough trade stance on Beijing after years of watching manufacturing jobs move to China 鈥� even if his tariffs hurt U.S. workers.
Mr. Moulton credits the president for confronting China, but disagrees with his approach. Instead of tariffs, he says, the聽United States should spearhead a Pacific version of NATO and revive something like the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade alliance to counterbalance China, particularly in artificial intelligence.
World leaders like China鈥檚 Xi Jinping and Russia鈥檚 Vladimir Putin need to start taking the U.S. seriously again, he says, especially with the Kremlin believed to be intent on undermining the 2020 election.
At Mr. Moulton鈥檚 fourth and final event of the day, in Londonderry, Vietnam veteran Greg Warner says to him, 鈥淭he Chinese are playing Go, and they鈥檙e very good at it; the Russians are playing chess; and we used to be playing checkers. But now we鈥檝e got a president that plays tic-tac-toe. ... We鈥檙e not paying attention! We鈥檙e not even playing.鈥�
鈥淵ou鈥檙e absolutely right,鈥� Mr. Moulton responds. 鈥淲e鈥檙e asleep at the switch.鈥�
But the depth of support for Mr. Trump is not lost on Mr. Moulton, who keeps in touch with conservative Marine buddies, works out regularly with Republicans, and travels through Trump country more than most coastal Democrats. He tells every crowd he addresses that it鈥檚 going to be a lot harder to beat Mr. Trump than many Democrats think.
For Mr. Moulton, however, the first battle is getting on the Democratic debate stage. Graham Allison, an adviser to presidential administrations for decades who taught Mr. Moulton at Harvard Kennedy School, says he is quite experienced in foreign policy compared with almost all the other candidates and even compared with former presidential candidates 鈥� Mr. Trump included.
鈥淚 find [his ideas] very solid, sensible, pragmatic 鈥� not ideological,鈥� says Professor Allison.
Still, even Mr. Moulton鈥檚 former professors say his odds of winning the Democratic nomination are not great. But as his wife said in his kickoff campaign video, once he puts his mind to something, he won鈥檛 quit.
鈥淭he person that takes on Donald Trump needs to be a tank 鈥� and that鈥檚 Seth,鈥� said Liz Moulton.
