7 Things I Want To Hear About During Tonight's Debates

Foreign policy and national security are subjects that Americans tend to ignore. They involve complicated concepts and events all over the globe. They are also very often complicated by domestic issues, or end up creating new ones. For the most part, we tend to assume that whoever runs the country will do a good job.

If anything could happen tonight, I’d want either candidate to articulate to the American people how important good foreign policy is and that neglecting it has consequences.

Here are 7 topics related to foreign policy and national security that I want the moderators to ask Joe Biden and Donald Trump about this evening:

1. Explain your immigration policy and how you would fix the crisis at the border.

2. China’s military and capabilities continue to improve at historic rates. How do you plan to deal with the Chinese threat? Is there a diplomatic solution?

3. What would your administration do to secure dominance in emerging technologies? What are the three that concern you the most?

4. Do you think the military and intelligence communities are politicized, formal bureaucracies? If so, how would you correct that?

5. Explain your policy on the war in Ukraine, and how involved the U.S. will be under your administration. Is military action off the table?

6. Both of you have a term under your belt. Do you think you had good foreign policy? What are your successes?

7. It looks like America is working towards a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, but what about Iran’s other proxies? How do you plan to deal with Iran, Hezbollah, and the Houthis?

One could argue that whoever wins the 2024 election, they will be facing crises in every corner of the globe. Global tensions seem to be at historic levels, and history may very well look at this point in time as a great diplomatic breakthrough or a great failure.

The debates begin at 9 p.m. ET on CNN.

P.S. Let me know what you want the candidates to pursue policy-wise. Send me an email!