What to Expect When You’re Expecting a New Congress

I’m quite skeptical that Ukraine funding will come under threat from a McCarthy-led House:

The fact is that the U.S. Presidency has a vast number of tools to implement foreign policy with only limited input from Congress. The executive branch has enormous latitude over the defense budget and to a great degree over arms transfers, making it difficult for Congress to have an impact simply through lack of acquiescence. While Presidents tend to whine a great deal about the need for unity in the face of foreign challenges, in practice even serious political scandals in the United States do not seem to have much impact on the ability of the U.S. government to pursue its international objectives. Finally, Presidents often shift their effort to foreign policy after losing control of the levers of Congress. When domestic victories become impossible, foreign glories beckon. In this context, Biden would have both the tools of power and the incentive to use them.

I also talk a little bit about what kind of impact a notional Trial of Donald Trump might have on US foreign policy. In other news, longtime Friend of the Blog Matt Duss undertook the terrifying task of sitting down with Isaac Chotiner to talk about progressive foreign policy and the Ukraine War:

Americans in general do have very deep-seated questions and suspicions about whether our expansive global role is benefitting us and benefitting our communities. There has been a strong effort to hear those concerns, and to fashion an American global role that responds to them.

The way the Biden Administration has justified our role in Ukraine is to say, “Here’s why this actually matters for you and your family and your community. This is the kind of world that we believe the United States should be trying to build. One in which an authoritarian dictator cannot simply dominate and invade his neighbors. One in which your daughter or son will be less likely to have to go and fight in such a war.”