The party’s hawkish response to Trump’s Congress speech this week yearned for an unpopular bygone era.
By Blaise Malley, Responsible Statecraft
In 2024, the Democratic Party ran a campaign that explicitly embraced Washington’s tired national security orthodoxy. Presidential nominee Kamala Harris campaigned alongside hawkish former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney and welcomed the endorsement of her father, Dick.
Meanwhile, the campaign refused to distance itself from the Biden administration’s unconditional support for Israel’s war on Gaza or its failed Ukraine policy. The party’s platform attacked Donald Trump, who, during his first term, brought the country to the brink of war with Iran, as being too soft on the Islamic Republic. The strategy ultimately proved ineffective.
Less than two months into Trump’s second presidency, the Democrats have apparently not learned any lessons.

There was certainly no discernible shift in party messaging to be found in Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s (D-Mich.) response to the president’s address to Congress on Tuesday. The recently-elected senator — herself a CIA veteran and an alum of the Bush and Obama administrations — delivered a speech full of nostalgia for past Republican presidents and doubled down on criticism of Trump’s supposed abandonment of American exceptionalism and global leadership.
“President Trump loves to promise ‘peace through strength.’ That’s actually a line he stole from Ronald Reagan. But let me tell you, after the spectacle that just took place in the Oval Office last week, Reagan must be rolling over in his grave,” she said, referring to Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance’s explosive meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky. “As a Cold War kid, I’m thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s. Trump would have lost us the Cold War.”
The president’s own speech was relatively light on foreign policy. Certainly there was space to criticize his continued push for aggressive unilateral actions in Greenland, Mexico, and the Panama Canal. But the Democratic respondent instead focused on his worldview, which she made a point of noting was a break with the two presidents under whom she served. “Donald Trump’s actions suggest that, in his heart, he doesn’t believe we are an exceptional nation,” said Slotkin. “He clearly doesn’t think we should lead the world.”
Recent Posts
The Rage Of Billionaires And The Frenzy To Stop Zohran Mamdani From Becoming New York’s Mayor
June 30, 2025
Take Action Now The constellation of forces now regrouping with a vengeance includes titans of Wall Street, enormous real estate interests,…
It’s Not Just The Cities. Extreme Heat Is A Growing Threat To Rural America.
June 28, 2025
Take Action Now The urban heat island sits in a rural heat ocean.By Umair Irfan, Vox Summer has officially begun with a blast of scorching…
Mamdani’s Massive Victory Should Show Democrats Where The Party’s Future Lies
June 27, 2025
Take Action Now NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has thrown the drowning Democratic Party a life vest. Will its leaders use it?By Sam…
India Walton’s Advice For Zohran Mamdani
June 26, 2025
Take Action Now “I think that for him, the race ’til November needs to be staying on message—we can’t start to water it down…