America's Partisan Divide Is Going Global

Chris Murphy and JD Vance chose opposite sides in foreign political battles, but both weakened an important American norm.

American politics has changed dramatically since President Ronald Reagan and Speaker Tip O'Neill respected each other despite deep policy disagreements. Language that was once disqualifying for politicians is now commonplace and inflammatory rhetoric is the norm. Leaders from both parties have contributed to the view that the justice system is being used by politicians to target political opponents. Presidents Biden and Trump both used their pardon power in unwise ways, even if Trump's pardoning of the January 6th rioters is the most egregious example of a president misusing the pardon power.

Even as our politics disintegrated from statesmanship to spectacle, America's partisan strife generally stopped at our borders. No longer. Last month Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, harshly criticized President Trump at a political rally in Spain. The rally wasn't attended by American expatriates but by Spanish socialists and left-wing political leaders from around the world. Democrats may feel an affinity with foreign left of center parties, but it's not appropriate to express solidarity by disparaging American Republicans. There are ways that Murphy could have reassured our international partners that President Trump doesn't represent the views of every American without criticizing the president in front of a foreign audience.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu illustrated what happens when a foreign leader aligns himself with one side of another country's politics. His decision in 2015 to accept a Republican invitation to address a joint session of Congress, an address he used to criticize President Obama's policy toward Iran, increased his country's alienation from the Democratic Party. Netanyahu's decision undermined the bipartisan support that Israel had enjoyed for most of its history. A lot has happened since 2015, including the unacceptable rise in global antisemitism, but Netanyahu's decision to associate himself with the Republican Party, and especially with President Trump, has exacerbated the increasingly negative perception of Israel among Democrats.

America doesn't rely on any foreign power the way that Israel relies on the U.S., but we're still weakening ourselves in unnecessary ways by participating in the internal politics of other countries. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who hosted the event recently attended by Senator Murphy, is governing with the support of Spain's far left and has been a vocal and consistent critic of President Trump. This type of hostility toward an American president by the leader of a NATO country would have been unheard of until recently, but Sánchez has a domestic political incentive to criticize President Trump, an incentive that Trump himself created.

The president's comments and trade policies toward Europe have generated distrust in many foreign countries and made it politically advantageous for foreign leaders to oppose Trump personally and U.S. policy more broadly. This is a problem because America has an easier time acting in the world when foreign voters support candidates who support the United States. In Spain and elsewhere, voters aren't inclined to support pro-U.S. politicians.

Trump's antagonistic rhetoric has contributed to America's unpopularity in significant parts of the world, but Murphy's decision to highlight that unpopularity by appearing at a political rally alongside Sanchez was equally unhelpful. If Murphy was concerned about the state of U.S.-Spanish relations he should have expressed solidarity with the entire Spanish nation. What he chose to do was endear himself to the socialists.

Murphy could have visited Spain's cultural treasures or taken part in serious discussions at think tanks and universities. He could have visited Spanish military installations and thanked the service members for the support their country provided to American operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Actions like these would have resonated with Spaniards across the country's political spectrum. Instead, Senator Murphy attended an event designed exclusively for the political left and ignored or alienated the nearly 50% of Spanish voters who supported parties that didn't back Sanchez's socialist government. Murphy built solidarity with a portion of Spanish voters but not with the nation as a whole.

JD Vance did the same in Hungary when he campaigned for then Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Vance enthusiastically endorsed Orbán days before most Hungarians rejected his leadership. Murphy's visit to Spain may have been the Democratic answer to Vance's campaign stop in Hungary, but neither of these events helped American foreign policy. Both explicitly chose a side in another country's contested politics.

Democrats are increasingly willing to adopt MAGA's tactics in their quest to push Republicans from power. California Governor Gavin Newsom's online behavior is the most prominent example, but the declaration by Speaker Hakeem Jeffries that his approach to partisan redistricting is "maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time" shows how the language of conflict that was normalized by the president now permeates both political sides. For the moment at least, Democrats have become even more willing than Republicans to normalize the use of public profanity in American politics.

It was counterproductive for Senator Murphy to insert himself in another country's domestic politics, just as it's counterproductive for Democrats to try and defeat MAGA by becoming MAGA. Rather than point out Vance's mistake in Hungary and set the right example, Murphy continued the Democratic trend of mimicking the worst parts of Republican behavior. Vance should not have appeared with Orbán and his presence at a political rally attached the United States to one group of Hungarian voters, voters who supported a party that's now out of power. Senator Murphy chose a different side in Spain but also alienated a large group of foreign voters.

It's been disconcerting over the years to see MAGA express solidarity with a foreign leader like Orbán even as its followers belittle their American opponents at home. There's nothing "America First" about celebrating a Hungarian leader at political events where Americans of a different political persuasion are disparaged. American politics is meant for Americans and there's no legitimate role for Hungarians or Argentinians or any other foreign leader who happens to express solidarity with President Trump. Likewise in Spain, the Spanish people need to work out their political differences without a campaign stop by a Democratic American Senator.

When this unfortunate period in American politics ends, both sides will need to recommit to the norms that made our politics function. One of these is the idea that our domestic American politics stops at our borders and that our leaders don't criticize each other abroad. Another is the idea that the domestic politics of friendly democratic countries is their business alone, just as our politics don't have room for foreigners. It would be a grave disservice to our country if our elected officials ended up feeling more affinity to likeminded leaders in foreign countries than they feel toward Americans who hold a different view of politics. The U.S. shouldn't choose sides in our allies' elections, and our leaders should remember their first loyalty is to their fellow Americans, regardless of political persuasion. The Reagan–O'Neill era was hardly free of partisan conflict, but political opponents still generally understood that America presented a united face abroad.

Colin Pascal is a retired Army lieutenant colonel and a senior fellow at the Orion Policy Institute.