How Connecticut's Chris Murphy, a rising Democratic star, would run the world.

[riversedge]

Real good article--of how things could be--and will be IMHO.



The Senator of State

How Connecticut’s Chris Murphy, a rising Democratic star, would run the world.



Updated Apr 16, 2020, 1:25pm EDT




..............“I’m 100 percent sure that I’m right about how badly positioned America is in the world today. I’m 100 percent sure this world cannot become a better place unless the United States is an active force for good,” he told me. “I’m 100 percent sure that the foreign policy consensus in Washington has made us less safe. I’m 100 percent sure that the military-industrial complex Eisenhower warned against has become the very nightmare he envisioned.”

“Not everything in domestic politics am I 100 percent sure about,” he continued, “but I am sure that we need a massive reorientation of America’s place in the world.”

The coronavirus crisis is exactly the kind of threat Murphy has long warned about. “I think it’s incredibly sad that we made a choice as a nation to leave ourselves vulnerable,” he told me. He ascribes a lot of the blame to Trump. “President Trump’s obsession with beefing up military coffers left the country more exposed to nonmilitary threats, including pandemics.”

Instead of building more hospitals, the US chose to build more fighter jets and aircraft carriers. Instead of prioritizing the recruitment of medical professionals, the US focused on recruiting more troops. And instead of increasing the ranks of embassy staff that could catch oncoming problems early, the US kept gutting the diplomatic budget. Trump embodied all of these worst tendencies when it was his turn to govern.

In a sense, then, this moment was predetermined.

“We are currently very dependent on medical sourcing from Europe, but the Europeans are in no mood to help the United States today, both because they are facing a crisis and also because we’ve spent the last three years kicking the shit out of them,” he said.

“When times get tough, you need friends,” he continued, “and America doesn’t have a lot of friends right now.”

What makes it worse is that the president Murphy voted to remove from office still uses the playbook that got him impeached in the first place. The governors who pledge fealty to Trump so far have received much of the medical equipment they need from federal authorities. Those who don’t get berated in press conferences and on Twitter.

“What we’re watching, potentially, is Trump using the same tools domestically that he used internationally. What he did to Ukraine he is arguably doing to Michigan, New York, and Connecticut today,” Murphy said. “He sees the money at his disposal as a mechanism to advance his political agenda. We should have removed him from office because he showed no contrition after his extortion campaign in Ukraine, suggesting that he was willing to use those same tactics domestically.”
"“When times get tough, you need friends, and America doesn’t have a lot of friends right now”"

Does that mean Trump should be removed from office for leading an extremely slow response to the coronavirus outbreak while pressuring states? Not exactly. “President Trump is a constant, evolving tangle of unconstitutional behavior,” Murphy said, but he added that “our focus right now needs to be on getting through the Covid-19 crisis.”

Someday, though, Trump will leave office, and a new president will set the course for American foreign policy. Among other things, they will be tasked with protecting the country against the next pandemic. That requires not only a rethink of how the US acts in the world, but also a wholesale change in how it prepares for what’s to come.

Murphy’s proposed reorientation — his gospel — is what he and others call a “progressive foreign policy,” and he’s proselytized it in bits and pieces since entering Congress shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks.

The US shouldn’t get involved in long-term wars, particularly in the Middle East. The president must get Congress’s approval before committing acts of war. More money should go to diplomats, not the military. Washington should invest in anti-corruption programs to weaken autocracies from Russia to China to Saudi Arabia. Climate change and pandemics are continuous global threats. Fixing and sustaining American democracy is vital to promoting it elsewhere.

This is the foreign policy Book of Murphy...........



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[Walleye]

1. I'm a big fan of Sen. Murphy. I think he's very smart and sensible

I’m glad somebody finally called out the Ukraine-like shakedown trump is committing against the states and anyone he doesn’t like with billions of our dollars. I actually wondered if trump demanded that the WHO produce dirt on Joe Biden.

[CTyankee]

2. He's great and should have a strong voice in the next Democratic administration.