Ernst, Burgum talk U.S. foreign policy during Nashua roundtable

NASHUA, N.H. – Over the last few days, the world’s attention has been redirected to the conflict between Israel and Hamas and a national security discussion scheduled for Friday was no exception.

Hosted by Polaris National Security, this roundtable moderated by former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus was part of the New Hampshire Republican Party’s First in the Nation Leadership Summit, featuring insight from U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.

While the roundtable had been scheduled before the beginning of the conflict on Oct. 7, the discussion’s tenor took on a different tone thanks to the conflict and related ancillary factors impacting foreign relations in the Middle East.

Ernst had been with a bicameral, bipartisan Congressional delegation meeting with governments of Middle Eastern countries when the conflict arose, beginning in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and then Saudi Arabia before the tour was redirected to Bahrain when Hamas struck. Although the U.S. State Department insisted that the delegation go to Jordan rather than Israel, Ernst insisted that she go to Israel to show solidarity with the Israeli government.

There, she says the members of Congress met with Israeli officials and family members of those who were murdered during the recent attacks. While Ernst was pleased with progress made during the early part of the journey, she felt that fellow delegation member Donald Norcross (D-NJ-01) put it best when he said that “(they) went on this trip with an optimistic outlook of engaging in peace and by the end of the delegation trip, (they) we embroiled in war.”

“I wish the delegation trip ended on a different note,” she said.

Ernst and Burgum then focused Iran and its support of Hamas, Iran’s support of anti-American/Israeli Houthis in Yemen and the seizure of UAE oil tankers in the Persian Gulf by Iran. On these points and others relating to America’s reaction to Iran, the panelists criticized the Biden administration, believing that U.S. policy over the last few years has emboldened Iran to destabilize the region and eventually force the U.S. into larger actions than it otherwise would have needed to face to protect U.S. interests.

“It’s the opposite of strength through peace, it’s wars through weakness and that’s where we are right now,” said Burgum.

Much of the discussion also focused on criticism of the Biden Administration, ranging from the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan following the Doha Accords to Mexican Cartels violent activities at U.S./Mexico border to Russia’s feeling that it could invade Ukraine with impunity.

“This administration seems to fold like a cheap card able every time pressure is placed from the extreme left or these extremist groups, said Ernst.

The panelists also criticized Democrats on recent drops in military recruitment and retention, blaming the shortfall on internal policies as well as a lack of preparation for young people who cannot pass the military’s stringent testing requirements. Ernst also blamed U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, stating that senior military officers would not be contemplating retirement at the current rate if Schumer had taken up the promotions of each senior officer individually, circumventing the hold from U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on all military promotions required to go through Congress due to abortion access given to military members through the Department of Defense. Ernst added that that access was a circumvention of the Hyde Amendment.

Neither of the panelists criticized other Republicans excluding Burgum’s attack on fellow GOP Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, specifically his comments regarding the recent Hamas attacks. In those comments, he said U.S. politicians showed more outrage toward recent events in Israel than other comparable tragedies elsewhere in the world due to corruption among American elites.

Burgum felt that creating a moral equivalent between Hamas and Israel was abhorrent and that the current conflict between the two sides is an Iranian proxy war against America and not unequivocally supporting Israel in this conflict is equivalent to undermining U.S. interests by enabling Iran’s.

“If you are running for President of the United States of America, you ought to know whose side you’re on,” said Burgum. “We have to know the different between right and wrong, we have to know who our allies are.”

Following the event, New Hampshire Democratic Party spokesperson Aida Ross released the following statement.

Time and again, President Biden has shown strong and steady leadership on the world stage and an unshakeable, personal commitment to American veterans and servicemembers — while the leader of Burgum’s own party has called servicemembers who have given their lives for our freedoms “suckers” and “losers.” These comments are nothing but spin and distraction from a desperate candidate with almost no support from Granite Staters.