If one of Donald Trump’s goals during Tuesday’s debate was to show that Kamala Harris would be a weak world leader, he failed.
She managed, after all, to hold her own against him while navigating topics unusually tricky for a Biden administration official, such as the chaotic U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the politically dicey Israel-Hamas war. On the second, Harris repeatedly stressed the need for a two-state solution, for instance — showing her support for Palestinians while also insisting she’ll defend Israel.
Foreign officials watching the Philadelphia faceoff weren’t expecting — and didn’t get — many policy specifics from either candidate. But many of those I spoke to said they wanted to see if Harris could stand up to a man who can be a bully, especially toward women, and rattle his political opponents.
Some Trump critics had argued prior to the showdown that he was a stand-in for the autocrats a future President Harris may encounter — the Vladimir Putins and Xi Jinpings of the world.
By the time the debate was over, several foreign officials from both U.S. allies and more neutral countries told me they felt more confident that Harris could handle the tricky personalities she’d encounter while in the world’s most powerful job.
“Composed, authoritative, and presidential,” one European diplomat raved.
“She even managed to laugh at him,” a senior European official marveled.
Her ability to manage Trump offered assurance that she could navigate tough personal relationships. Given that international relations often come down to the nature of personal relations, this matters.
Since Harris has become the candidate, foreign officials I talk to have described her as a bit of an unknown, at least when compared to President Joe Biden or Trump. To a degree, they’re unsure where Biden’s foreign policy views end and hers begin.
By the end of the debate, the foreign officials I was in touch with came across as more certain that Harris was her own woman, although they stressed they still wanted to know more about her policy ideas. (All were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.)
The main foreign affairs issues that came up were the wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Afghanistan, including the deaths and chaos that accompanied the 2021 full U.S. military withdrawal from the latter.
Trump and Harris both called the other “weak” on just about every one of these fronts.
But Trump’s claims were more exaggerated. He alleged that Israel would cease to exist within two years if Harris becomes president and that he’d resolve the Russia-Ukraine war while still president-elect. Trump also tried to link border security and immigration, which are more traditionally viewed as domestic matters, in with his critiques of Harris on foreign policy.
The Republican didn’t directly answer when asked if he wanted Ukraine to win the war Russia launched against it. “I want the war to stop,” he said in an answer that will only invite more allegations that he’s too friendly to Russia, and Putin in particular.
In between throwing brutal glances at Trump, Harris appeared well-prepped for the moderators’ questions and the former president’s barbs.
The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was one of the lowest points of Biden’s tenure. Harris firmly backed the broader decision to leave, but also used the opportunity to blame Trump for negotiating a doomed peace agreement with the Taliban.
On Israel and the Palestinians, Harris began by noting that it was the Palestinian militants of Hamas who launched the latest war and insisted that she would always help Israel defend itself. She made no suggestion she’d hold up military aid to Israel.
But the Democrat also called for a cease-fire to the war in Gaza and used a phrase that many in the upper echelons of the Biden administration have stopped using: “two-state solution.” It was a promise to Muslim American, Arab American and other voters who have been infuriated by Biden’s handling of the war that Harris believes Palestinians should have their own country.
Trump at times would bash Biden, his former opponent in the race. He called Biden a “weak, pathetic man” and even claimed Biden “hates” his vice president because she replaced him as the Democrats’ presidential nominee.
“You’re not running against Joe Biden. You’re running against me,” Harris said at one point.
Trump’s maneuvers and claims didn’t surprise the foreign officials. They’re accustomed to his unpredictability, ire toward U.S. allies and courting of strongmen — all of which came through at various points Tuesday night. Officials from American allies overseas remain perturbed by Trump’s promises of imposing new tariffs.
Some were impressed by how Harris managed to bait Trump. Her mentions of people leaving his rallies or his alma mater — “DT took the bite every time,” the senior European official said.
But difficult world leaders are not all alike, and they’re certainly not all like Trump. A withering gaze or a loaded comment from Harris may not rattle a Putin.
“I think people have a sense Putin is a cooler and scarier customer,” a Latin American official told me.
Still, Harris’ performance reminded me a bit of a moment in one of the 2008 presidential debates between John McCain and Barack Obama.
McCain, of course, had a long track record of standing up to tyrants; he’d spent years as a prisoner of war during Vietnam. But the younger, less experienced Obama tried to show that he, too, was no shrinking violet — especially when it came to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
When Obama said, “We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda,” on the debate stage that night, I suddenly could see him running the show in the Situation Room.
To much of the world, Harris made a strong case Tuesday that she has the same potential.
