The GOP's foreign policy establishment fades

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

Last week, Senate Republicans effectively killed the Law of the Sea Treaty, despite the support of the Bush/Cheney administration, the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, and James Baker. And why did the Senate GOP do this? Because of paranoid fears about the U.N. among right-wing activists.

It's not the only treaty in trouble. The U.N. Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities also enjoys bipartisan support, with Republicans like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) arguing that it would simply extend our Americans with Disabilities Act to people around the world. But once again, the right, led by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), isn't happy.

"Parts of this treaty deals with abortion and the rights of children, issues that should be addressed by states, local governments and American parents not international bureaucrats," DeMint spokesman Wesley Denton told The Hill in an email. [...]

[S]ome home-schooling advocates are worried about "international bureaucrats" telling them how to raise their children. In a 2007 study, six percent of the parents of the nation's 1.5 million home-schooled students cited health or special needs as the reason for educating at home.

Rick Santorum is also helping rally conservative opposition to the measure, telling the right that the U.N. treaty would "usurp the rights and powers of parents here in the United States."

As a factual matter, this is absurd, but the larger takeaway from this is a reminder about the dwindling influence of the Republican foreign policy establishment. There was a time not long ago when a proposal on international affairs backed by Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) and every living former Secretary of State from Republican administrations would have been seen as a no-brainer.

But as the Republican Party has become radicalized, the influence of the GOP foreign policy establishment has dropped to a modern low point. We saw this in 2010 during the debate over the New START treaty, and now we're seeing it again this year on Law of the Sea and U.N. Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

My first instinct was to describe the larger dynamic as the "demise" of the Republican Party's foreign policy establishment, but that's not quite right -- the GOP's foreign policy establishment isn't dead; it's just irrelevant. There are elder Republican statesmen who still want to influence their party with sensible advice, but too many within the party choose not to listen. Even when nonpartisan military leaders urge the GOP to take certain actions, Republicans have decided they don't care about the brass, either.

Jacob Heilbrunn argued a while back that we're witnessing the "twilight of the wise man," and that 2012 may well mark "the last gasp" of the Republican foreign policy establishment. The party that once considered foreign affairs one of its signature issues may never be the same.