John Hickenlooper to lay out first foreign policy proposal with emphasis on security
2020 Democratic presidential hopeful and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper will give his first foreign policy announcement on Monday with a plan to beef up U.S. security. The plan will focus on securing the nation's cyber firewalls, expanding the country's "open and fair trade" rules, strengthening global alliances like NATO and supporting human rights abroad.
Hickenlooper launched his campaign for president in March with a call for action on the economy, climate change and gun control. Campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt told CBS News it is imperative for Hickenlooper to have a foreign policy plan, and noted the lack of concrete proposal from some of the other Democrats in the race.
Hickenlooper will call out fellow Democrats for "recoiling from past American foreign policy mistakes by looking to withdraw from our global leadership role," although he didn't make it clear which Democrats he is referring to. Hickenlooper also will call for establishing a director of national cybersecurity.
As the shape of the 2020 race has solidified, domestic policy has taken center stage among the candidates. So far, only Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have laid out comprehensive foreign policy platforms, and an essay in Foreign Policy magazine earlier this month called on Democrats to make it the defining issue of the presidential race.
In a keynote address to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on Monday, Hickenlooper will criticize President Trump's foreign policy doctrine, saying he believes Mr. Trump is damaging U.S. alliances, "coddling dictators" and harms U.S. security by withdrawing from America's role of global leadership.
On the state level, the popular two-term former Colorado governor is known for expanding the state's Medicaid coverage and pushing for stricter gun laws following the 2012 mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado. He's also known as an entrepreneur who helped revitalize Denver, starting in the late 1980s.
In the national race, Hickenlooper has failed to gain traction in the polls and is now facing a crowded 2020 race that includes one of his former employees, Sen. Michael Bennet.
Hickenlooper has spoken out against the Green New Deal and faced criticism on the left for declining to call himself a "capitalist," and for saying he wants to save capitalism. "I'm an entrepreneur, I believe in capitalism. But you need competition to make capitalism work," said Hickenlooper in a recent Fox Business interview.
