Israel-Hamas war tests Republican Party’s isolationist shift

Rochester, (AP)

Nikki Haley vowed to stand with Israel “every step of the way”. She promised to “decimate” the Iranian economy. And she called for continued funding for Ukraine as it fights to repel the Russian invasion.

“It’s a dangerous world right now,” Haley told Republican primary voters gathered inside New Hampshire’s American Legion Post No. 7 as a new war raged in the Middle East. “And this is gonna get messier before it gets better.”

Less than 24 hours later, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told New Hampshire business leaders that the United States should stop funding Ukraine until there is a clear strategy. He was more focused on what he saw as a threat posed by foreign nationals at the US-Mexico border. And Israel, he said, has a right to defend itself.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a lot we even need to do militarily,” DeSantis said of the war between Israel with Hamas. “We may have to provide some additional support like we’ve traditionally done, but I think mostly it’s just the moral clarity to say, ‘They don’t have to live like this.’”

The Republican Party’s White House hopefuls are offering conflicting messages on the mounting foreign policy challenges as a presidential election long centred on domestic kitchen-table issues suddenly shifts its focus abroad. The rapidly evolving dynamics are testing the limits of the GOP’s embrace of an isolationist foreign policy and threaten to undermine the party’s broader argument that Democratic President Joe Biden has mismanaged US relationships with the rest of the world.

Republican primary voters across New Hampshire who pelted Republican presidential candidates with foreign policy questions this past week are hungry for better answers.

“This God-awful international situation is calling for a rational voice. That chair sits empty right now,” said Tom Rath, a former New Hampshire attorney general who attended DeSantis’ Friday appearance at St. Anselm College, where the first three questions focused on foreign policy.

STARK REMINDER

The war is a stark reminder of how the GOP has shifted away from more traditional Republicans such as Roth over the past two decades. Former President George W. Bush, whose administration was defined in large part by its failures in the Iraq War, recently described himself as “kind of a hard-liner”. In video obtained by Axios, he said the Biden administration’s response to the Israel-Hamas conflict has “started off on the right foot”.

But under former President Donald Trump’s leadership, the GOP has moved sharply away from its long-standing support for a muscular foreign policy. In last fall’s mid-term elections, for example, 56 per cent of voters for Republican candidates said the US should take a less-active role in world affairs, according to AP VoteCast.

Haley, who was Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, has emerged as the representative for the GOP’s old guard, calling for the “the end” of Hamas and an aggressive response to Israel’s enemies, including Iran. On the other side among her 2024 rivals, DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, backed by conservative media personality Tucker Carlson, favour a more cautious “America-First” approach.

Trump, the front-runner in the Republican primary, has confused the issue with an inconsistent message fuelled by personal grievance.

In a rambling speech last week, Trump said Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “let us down” just before the US killed a top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, in 2020. Trump also said Israeli leaders needed to “step up their game” and he referred to Hezbollah, which Israel fears may launch a large-scale attack from the country’s north, as “very smart”. In an interview that aired Thursday, Trump said Netanyahu “was not prepared” for the Hamas incursion from Gaza.

Trump’s team finished the week in damage control mode, sending out statements that highlighted his past support for Israel. Trump himself joined the effort as he insisted the attack never would have happened had he won the 2020 election and he praised Israeli soldiers.

“I have always been impressed by the skill and determination of the Israeli Defence Forces. As they defend their nation against ruthless terrorists, I want to wish every soldier the best of luck. May you return home safely to your families, and may God bless you all!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.

Meanwhile, some Republican primary voters don’t like what they’re hearing from their party’s presidential hopefuls.

“Now, more than ever, is when I feel like we need a strong leader in the White House. Biden ain’t it. Trump ain’t it,” said Michele Woonton, a 58-year-old retired nurse who attended a DeSantis appearance at the New Hampshire Statehouse this past week.