References to foreign policy began even before the block of questions assigned to the subject, with little weight, proportionally speaking, in the overall debate. Right away, Donald Trump boasted that under his presidency the United States “wasn’t in any war” in the world and denounced the withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 as “the most shameful moment in the history” of the country. It was a preemptive, unexpected attack on his rival, before the moderators asked the candidates the two main questions of that bloc: their position on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the war between Israel and Hamas.
“Our veterans and our soldiers can’t stand this guy, they like me more,” the Republican said without blushing. “If we had a real president, whom [el presidente ruso Vladímir] Putin respected, he would never have invaded Ukraine. But Biden has never stopped Russia,” the former president falsely denounced.
He also lashed out at his opponent for giving money to Ukraine (“We have given hundreds of billions of dollars, every time [el presidente de Ucrania, Volodímir] “Zelensky comes to Washington, takes money, is a great businessman,” he said (it is not known whether in a joking tone) and claimed that, as president-elect, he would be able to end the war even before taking office on January 20, 2025, if he were elected.
Biden hit back, arguing that Trump had emboldened Putin and, more importantly, that if the Republican wins in November, Russia will extend its war to Europe and beyond. “Putin is a war criminal who has killed thousands of people, it is delusional to think that he will stop at Ukraine.” Reluctantly, and questioned by the moderator, Putin conceded that “Putin’s arguments are not true.” [la anexión de las regiones ucranias conquistadas para poner fin a la guerra] “They are unacceptable,” he stressed, but without offering a single proposal, “this war should not have started.” On the contrary, the Republican said that it was the “embarrassing” American withdrawal from Afghanistan that gave wings to the Russian president.[A Biden] It went so badly in Afghanistan that Putin saw it and said go ahead. He would never have invaded Ukraine, and Israel would never have been invaded by Hamas” without the precedent of the convulsive Afghan withdrawal, he said, without evidence.
The position of both candidates on NATO also showed the gulf that separates them. Biden defended the Atlantic Alliance and sought to take credit for the unity shown by its members following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “By the way, I got 50 other nations around the world to support Ukraine,” he said with satisfaction. In one of the few replies, the Democrat asked his rival if he wanted to remove the United States from NATO, to which Trump frowned and shrugged his shoulders, without answering. “I have never heard so much nonsense. This guy wants to get out of NATO. Are you going to stay in NATO? “You are going to leave NATO,” Biden stated without hesitation.
Trump linked the sad fate of many American veterans to the massive entry of undocumented immigrants into the country, who in his opinion take away all the resources that the former deserve. Trump’s questioning of the welfare of veterans angered Biden to the point of calling his rival a “loser and a loser.” As if it were a raw wound, Biden used very intimate grievances, an alleged comment by Trump in which he called veterans suckers and losers, and invoked the memory of his son Beau Biden, a war veteran in Iraq. and died of brain cancer in 2015. “My son was not a loser or a loser. You are the loser. “You are the loser,” Biden snapped, visibly angry.
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Regarding Israel, Trump was cautious, if not ambiguous, when asked if he would support a Palestinian state, diverting his answer, without meaning, to extemporaneous issues, such as trade agreements signed with Europe. “We must let Israel finish” with Hamas, defended the Republican, criticizing Biden for trying to prevent Israel from winning the war against Hamas, and ensuring that the president was now “like a Palestinian”, someone weakened. The Democrat reaffirmed his Administration’s support for Israel (“we are the country that supports Israel the most in the world”) and assured that the only one that wants to continue the war is Hamas.
Recalling the US three-phase peace plan – he was unable to list them, and he confusedly defined the first point, the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, in a display of mental confusion – the Democratic candidate for re-election stated that he enjoys the support of the Security Council, which approved, thanks to Russia’s abstention, a proposed resolution that traces the aforementioned peace plan.
The war in Afghanistan and the complicated US withdrawal in August 2021 were a meander in Trump’s disjointed speech. “Everything was going great, no wars” in the world, the Republican repeated, until “the most shameful day in the history” of the United States, he hammered, frequently incurring in inaccuracies. For example, when he assured that under his mandate “Iran was bankrupt.” Even under the sanctions imposed on Tehran by his Administration, Iran’s economy remained afloat, with difficulties. Trump did not mention his decision to withdraw the United States in 2018 from the nuclear agreement signed with Iran by Democrat Barack Obama. Biden, lost on numerous occasions – his own campaign team practically gave up the debate from the first minute – missed the opportunity to remind him.
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