The foreign policy vision to heed

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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit last week will spawn many discussions about America’s role in the world, but the most important speech of the week may be Republican Mike Johnson’s on Monday at the Hudson Institute. The House speaker laid down a marker for a GOP that rejects U.S. decline and retreat abroad.

“While democracy is not perfect, the burden of self-government is certainly far lighter than the yoke of tyranny,” Johnson said. “But right now, absent American leadership, we’re looking at a future that could be” defined by “communism and tyranny, rather than liberty and opportunity and security.”

Johnson said Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to expand “his communist footholds.” Vladimir Putin imagines a Russian empire that includes the Baltics, and Iran aspires to wipe Israel off the map. The Biden administration is “appeasing and apologizing and accommodating. Joe Biden doesn’t treat China like an enemy. He’s stopped supporting Israel, and has cozied up to Iran to revive the failed nuclear deal,” he said.

The speaker defended Donald Trump’s record and called on European allies to live up to their defense spending commitments. He noted the security risks of an uncontrolled southern border and the rising national debt, which will require hard spending adjustments.

But most notable was the larger picture Johnson painted. He didn’t indulge a false choice between meeting problems at home and threats abroad. He is pushing his party in the direction of Ronald Reagan, which is correct for the world moment and politically popular.

America is threatened “by Chinese Communists, by Russian oligarchs, and Islamic terrorists. We can choose to ignore them, we can try to appease them,” the Speaker said. “Or we can choose another course. … We can rearm, rebuild, reinvigorate, restore, and reinstate fear in our enemies.” Decline “is always a choice. That is not a choice that Republicans will be making anytime soon.”

Trump could hardly do better than repeat Johnson’s message word for word at this week’s GOP convention.