When considering foreign policy, there is only one choice for president

Every U.S. presidential election plays to three separate audiences: American voters, America’s allies, and America’s enemies. For the most part, voters focus on questions of domestic policy, but the focus of the other two audiences is dramatically different.

For our allies, it’s a question of America’s reliability as a partner in the defense of liberal democracy; for our enemies, it’s a search for Western vulnerability.

That’s why I, a longtime conservative activist and senior member of the Republican congressional leadership, believe electing Kamala Harris — and not electing Donald Trump — is the most important decision voters will make in November.

Our fellow democracies want to know, “Are you with us?” Our authoritarian enemies want to know if, as Trump has signaled, we’re fine with them doing whatever they want.

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Domestic policy matters, though its effects are often short term. Tax rates and spending priorities ebb and flow with each election cycle; Congress does one thing, the next Congress something else.

But in the realm of foreign policy, and defense policy, which is derived from it, the stakes are greater because wrong steps can be disastrous and irreversible.

The rule of law is paramount. Treaty obligations cannot be shrugged off because of presidential whim. In the international arena, trust is the coin of the realm, and Trump’s word is worthless. If he were president, no ally could feel comfortable believing whatever words come spilling out of his mouth because he is a man who lies instinctively and does not feel bound by either law or custom.

In the international arena, trust is the coin of the realm, and Trump’s word is worthless.

Some events overseas draw our attention: The war in Gaza following Hamas’ murderous Oct. 7 assault on Israeli civilians has created an ever-escalating death toll. Russia’s attempt to seize control of Ukraine has destroyed cities and killed thousands.

But those wars are not the sum of the issues the next American president and Congress will face. China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran present an increasingly united authoritarian front opposed not only to the West but to the very concept of liberal democracy: honest elections, impartial justice, individual and collective liberties. China and North Korea, in particular, have increased their lethality; in China’s case, manyfold. And their rulers are not coy about their authoritarian aims, just as Trump is not coy about his.

All they need to succeed is a weak and incompetent American administration, susceptible to greed and flattery.

Trump is supportive of Vladimir Putin because he thinks Putin likes him. He is in thrall to Kim Jong Un for the same reason. Putin is a former KGB agent; spy services, including our own, specialize in analyzing the best approach to turn a target — threat, temptation, and in a case like Trump’s, overweening flattery.

When Trump purports to represent the United States, our allies roll their eyes, and our enemies wink and smirk. They see the little man with the big ego and rub their hands together in joy.

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But what about Harris? Is she tough enough? Ask the people she put behind bars. Ask the corporations that lost $20 billion, believing they could hoodwink or outmuscle the prosecutor from California. I’ve known Harris for nearly 20 years. I brought her, as a young district attorney, into a program where she engaged in bipartisan conversations with other elected officials about everything from human nature to the balancing of individual rights and community obligation, about choosing between irreconcilable good outcomes and whether compromising or holding the line would produce the best outcome.

I traveled with her for meetings with top political, military, business, and civic leaders in China, India, Egypt, Israel, and Jordan, and with Arab leaders in Ramallah and Amman. She listened, questioned, challenged, and refused to accept double-talk or brush-offs. What she did hammering evasive witnesses in the Senate is what she has always done.

Kamala Harris is someone Western leaders will acknowledge as a peer.

Understanding the challenges of foreign policy is the single most important responsibility of a president of the United States. Part of that responsibility requires the ability to work with Congress, which has the final word on most foreign policy decisions.

Harris, in Congress, knew how to work across the aisle; Trump sees members of another party as his personal enemies. Trump brags that he doesn’t read the briefing; he has no need to, he knows who “likes” him.

That utter disregard for America’s interests and security is shocking. The United States needs someone who will stand up to bullies, not snuggle up to them. Kamala Harris is someone Western leaders will acknowledge as a peer — not a boastful, unread, unserious seeker of applause.

Tyrants pose ever-increasing challenges to the United States and its allies. In this moment, we need a serious person with the intelligence to keep the West united in defense of democracy and who, unlike Trump, will put America first.

Mickey Edwards was chair of the House Republican Policy Committee and a founding trustee of the Heritage Foundation.