As the House prepared to draft impeachment charges against President Donald Trump, Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro on Thursday called for a foreign policy that reclaims the country’s moral authority and restores U.S. diplomacy.
Castro laid out his foreign policy vision at Stanford, his undergraduate alma mater, telling the gathering of students and professors that U.S. allies today question the country’s commitment and that its adversaries are emboldened.
“We have to be a nation of moral authority that stands up for human rights, that pushes back against tyranny anywhere, that promotes peace and prosperity everywhere,” he said.
A couple of hours earlier, in Washington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she had instructed House members to draft articles of impeachment against Trump. House committees have been conducting an impeachment inquiry into whether Trump withheld military aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden’s son.
“Today, just about everyone, from students protesting in the streets to leaders laughing in public meetings, is wondering about the future of American leadership,” Castro said, making reference to a video of a hot mic moment in which world leaders appeared to be talking about Trump.
“We need a new vision for the future that pursues a more just world by defending democracy and a more peaceful planet through diplomacy,” Castro said.
Castro touched on a number of subjects in the speech, including tying together interference from Russia in the 2016 elections and voting fairness in the U.S.
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“Our security abroad is inseparable from the health our democracy at home,” he said. “We cannot credibly say we support fair elections in the Ukraine or Venezuela, if we cannot guarantee them in the state of Georgia.”
A “Marshall Plan” for Latin America
He called for “making room for new voices” in the nation’s alliances. That starts with a 21st Century Marshall Plan for Central America, normalizing relations with Cuba and lifting sanctions and addressing root causes of migration, including climate change issues, he said.
He called for lifting sanctions that have hurt the people of Venezuela, while focusing pressure on President Nicolás Maduro and his allies. The Trump administration’s “saber-rattling” in Venezuela “has done nothing to weaken the Maduro dictatorship,” he said.
The U.S. has to “repair” its relationship with Mexico and on drug cartels, “common sense gun safety legislation would deny cartels the weapons of war that do not belong on American or Mexican streets,” he said.
On the use of military force, Castro said the next president must bring home combat troops and recommit to diplomacy. Castro said he is “highly skeptical” of what military action alone can accomplish, but there are times the U.S. must be willing to use force. The U.S. needs to “prioritize and modernize the defense budget with a vision toward deterring future conflict,” he said.
Asked if he would bring troops in Afghanistan home, Castro said negotiations with the Taliban should continue with issues such as women’s rights addressed, “but my vision is to bring back those combat troops.”
He lamented the loss of senior diplomats to retirement and a large drop in applications to the Foreign Service under the Trump administration.
“Trump has slandered public servants like Ambassador Yovanovitch for standing for the rule of law and rejecting corruption,” he said. Marie Yovanovitch is the former ambassador to Ukraine who testified in the impeachment inquiry.
He reaffirmed his support for Israel’s security, but admonished leaders seeking to annex parts of the West Bank to expand settlements, saying such actions make a two-state solution more distant, if not impossible.
“We must make clear that this stands against our values and interests,” he said.
Castro, a former housing secretary and mayor of San Antonio, Texas, failed to make the debate stage in November and still is trying to meet the tougher polling and fundraising threshold for the Dec. 19 debate. He was close to the fundraising threshold late Thursday.
The departure of Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., from the presidential race, however, appears to have sent some of her backers Castro’s way, particularly after he criticized media coverage of her campaign, saying she had been held to a double standard as a black woman. His campaign said it had its best fundraising day of the quarter when Harris announced on Tuesday she was suspending her campaign.
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