On the final, and most anticipated, night of the four-day Chicago convention, Harris, 59, promised to chart a “New Way Forward” as she and Trump, 78, enter the final 11 weeks of the razor-close campaign.
After days of protests from Palestinian supporters who were disappointed at not getting a speaking spot at the convention, Harris delivered a pledge to secure Israel, bring the hostages home from Gaza and end the war in the Palestinian enclave.
“Now is the time to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done,” she said to cheers. “And let me be clear, I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself.”
“What has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost, desperate hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking,” she said.
I get the sense that hawkish statement is more in regards to Russia than anything. I know Iran and N. Korea are up there, but when your old arch nemesis is invading neighbors, even Dems go hawkish.
Apart from pure domestic “tough” politics, I think China/Taiwan is the actual motivator for worrying about military strength. Russia has shown itself to be barely capable of fighting its neighbor. China sounds like it actually has weapons that are able to threaten our forces, and have been saber rattling against Taiwan.
Fair. I generally try to avoid calling them an enemy since they have very little to gain from a war with the US (at least for now) yet we know they want Taiwan (and probably more) which makes them a threat and a good reason to keep a strong military.
They just aren’t as outwardly hostile since they’re still a trade partner. For instance, if somehow an alliance formed in WW3 against “the West”, my money is on them prefering neutrality, similar to India. It’s just better for their country, even if they could use it to (temporarily) snag Taiwan. They’d much rather take Taiwan as a one-off.
But yeah, you’re right though even if they aren’t part of the “axis of evil”, lol
I think everything with China is a game of chicken, but it’s a game of chicken each side wants to be well prepared for in case something goes wrong. China doesn’t want to fight the US, but if they think whatever’s happening in our politics means we wouldn’t fight them for Taiwan, they might invade assuming we won’t act. But if they misjudge and we do act, they certainly would like to have ship-killing missiles available for the fight.
Here’s her speech… https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_BOYirumo-/
I mean, did you catch the relentless series of war-hawks that came out in series before her final speech?
Yep. Not a huge fan given I remember what led to the ill advised Iraq invasion. I vote mostly on domestic policy, though, so as it stands it’s not a deal breaker (and after Ukraine I’m slightly more hawkish myself, but only slight).