John Kerry, Marie Yovanovitch, and Colin Powell assail Trump's foreign policy choices at DNC
Former diplomats from both sides of the aisle presented a unified case against President Trump on Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention.
The DNC's second night featured a whole section focused on presidential nominee Joe Biden's foreign policy experience and Trump's apparent lack of it. Former Secretary of State John Kerry kicked off the diplomatic smackdown, a selection of former foreign service officials came next, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell — a lifelong Republican — finished the segment with a dose of bipartisanship.
In his address, Kerry, a former presidential nominee himself, delivered an excoriating rebuke of Trump's diplomatic record — or his "blooper reel," as Kerry called it. "Donald Trump pretends Russia didn’t attack our elections. And now, he does nothing about Russia putting a bounty on our troops," Kerry said, declaring "the only person he's interested in defending is himself."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A video montage followed featuring a number of career foreign service officials, including Marie Yovanovitch, whom Trump removed as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Yovanovitch, who testified against Trump in his impeachment trial, went more positive on Biden than negative on Trump, saying Biden would "do the right thing, no matter the cost."
Then came Powell, who served under former President George W. Bush.
He praised Biden's "values," and then declared "we are a country divided, and we have a president doing everything in his power to make it that way and keep us that way."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
How music can help recovery from surgeryUnder The Radar A ‘few gentle notes’ can make a difference to the body during medical procedures
-
Nursing is no longer considered a professional degree by the Department of EducationThe Explainer An already strained industry is hit with another blow
-
6 gripping museum exhibitions to view this winterThe Week Recommends Discover the real Grandma Moses and Frida Kahlo
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
