Sanders: Diplomacy must drive U.S. approach to world

Once and possibly future presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders said Thursday that President Donald Trump accentuates the worst aspects of generations of U.S. foreign policy, arguing that diplomacy and human rights must drive the U.S. approach to the world.

The Vermont independent chided Trump on everything from his rhetoric and proposed foreign aid cuts to his handling of North Korea, Iran and terrorism. But Sanders also made clear at Missouri’s Westminster College that an undue focus on American military might began long before Trump’s election.

“The goal is not for the United States to dominate the world. Nor on the other hand is our goal to withdraw from the international community and shirk our responsibilities under the banner of ‘America First,'” Sanders said, invoking a phrase Trump has used to explain his approach to military and economic affairs on the global stage.

Rather, Sanders called for “global engagement based on partnership,” an attitude he said is “better for security” and “better for facilitating the international cooperation necessary to meet shared challenges.”

The senator delivered his remarks as Trump concluded a four-day visit to the United Nations, where he offered an unapologetically aggressive stance that divides the world into friends and foes, with promises to meet America’s enemies, particularly North Korea, with catastrophic force.

Sanders has been mentioned as a possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, although he would be 79 that year. The venue for his speech in Fulton, Mo., served as the site for major addresses from Winston Churchill and former President Ronald Reagan.

Sanders defended the United Nations and NATO — both targets of Trump’s ire — as fundamental to international stability. “Dialogue and debate are far preferable to bombs, poison gas and war,” Sanders said.