OPINION: Risch: Don’t trust Harris with foreign policy

Vice President Kamala Harris may be the Democratic Party’s brightest star at the moment, but the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says he’s not impressed with her resume when it comes to foreign policy. 

“What has she done in the three and a half years as vice president? The only thing that people can point to is that she was named as the border czar,” said Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, who has been on the committee under three administrations. “They are now running away from that, saying she was not the border czar. But she was supposed to straighten that mess out. It did not get better at all; it got worse. That’s a foreign-relations thing, no question about it, and she was a total failure.” 

Risch says illegal border crossings of 10 million or more a year is hardly a success story, “and that’s not just the border with Mexico. We have lots and lots of other foreign relations issues and, so far, I have not seen her produce anything in foreign relations, let alone any level of success.” 

Harris and others have countered that a bipartisan bill aimed at solving the border crisis was in the works, only to be nixed by former President Trump and Republicans who feared that resolving the border issue would give Democrats an advantage in the fall elections. Risch tells a different story. 

“Many people have bitten on that bait,” he said. “But if you drill down on the bill that they are talking about, the bill solves nothing. One Republican signed onto that bill, which does not make it a bipartisan bill. It allowed 2,500 illegal crossings into this country every day. I would not have voted for that. I would not vote for a bill that allowed even one person to cross into the country illegally every day.” 

And even if it were the perfect piece of legislation, Risch said, “Why would you need a bill at all?”  

It’s no surprise that Risch favors Trump policies over Biden-Harris, but the stakes go beyond partisan politics. The Idaho senator, who had a strong working relationship with Trump during his four years in the White House, could play a key role in the shaping of foreign policy in a second Trump term. Such prospects would not exist under a Harris administration. 

Risch says he has no doubt that Trump would be superior to Harris in the handling of foreign policy. 

“He says, ‘America First,’ which makes all those on the left bristle. Well, if you don’t want America first, who do you want first? The job of the president of the United States is to make America first,” Risch says. “The result of that is what you saw in Trump’s foreign policy. Can you argue about some of it? Sure, you can. But Trump had the unique ability to frustrate foreign actors, especially the autocrats that you should worry about, because they never knew what he was going to do.” 

Risch says Biden’s administration has been plagued by a series of wrong turns, which includes the “embarrassing” withdrawal from Afghanistan. “The move to get out as he did cost the lives of 13 Marines and who knows how many private citizens. That tells you the story right there.” 

But his critique of the Biden-Harris administration’s foreign policy doesn’t stop there. Recently, Risch released a report analyzing the administration’s policies on China — with the unflattering title, “One step forward, two steps back.” Risch also offered a blueprint for what needs to be done with China in the years to come. 

“In November 2020, I published a report on the importance of the United States and our European partners working together to counter an increasing confrontational China,” he said. “Nearly four years later, China’s efforts to undermine prosperity, security and good governance in every region of the globe continue to be what I consider the most important foreign policy challenge of our time. If we are to succeed in confronting China, the next administration must do more than the Biden-Harris administration has over the last four years.”

It’s a good guess that Risch’s comprehensive report and blunt critique is not on the president’s or vice president’s late-night reading list. But he could have a much friendlier audience with Trump back in the White House. 

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Silver Valley native Chuck Malloy is a longtime Idaho journalist and columnist. He may be reached at ctmalloy@outlook.com.