Alexander Hamilton Society to host political experts Friday, debate Trump versus Harris foreign policy views

Two Washington, D.C. political experts are set to debate former President Donald Trump’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’ foreign policy views Friday at an event hosted by Ohio State’s Alexander Hamilton Society.

The debate will take place 7 p.m. Friday in the Student Alumni Council Room of the Ohio Union. Derek Mitchell, a former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, will represent Harris’ side while Matthew Kroenig, a Georgetown University professor in the Department of Government and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, will represent Trump’s side, with attendees submitting questions to speakers via Google form.

The debate will address various foreign policy issues and aim to discover which candidate is more prepared to lead the U.S. abroad, said Jack Swartz, president of the Alexander Hamilton Society.

“I think that not enough light gets shed on foreign policy, and I don’t think that college students get a clear idea of it as much as I wish, so this is a good opportunity for doing that,” Swartz, also a fourth-year in political science and international relations, said.

Swartz said the Alexander Hamilton Society, specifically Ohio State’s chapter, is an organization that promotes foreign policy engagement for students, holds weekly roundtable meetings and hosts events throughout the semester that focus on international relations.

As far as Friday’s debate, Kroenig, also senior director of the Atlantic Council, said he plans to speak on issues that span across the whole globe.

“I’ll be giving my own views, not the views of the Atlantic Council or Georgetown as institutions, but I’ve been asked to defend Trump’s foreign policy,” Kroenig said. “We’ll probably talk about the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East, what to do about global trade, what to do about defense spending and the defense budget. So, I think we’re going to cover a lot of ground.”

Mitchell, also senior advisor at the Center for Strategic International Studies and former president of the National Democratic Institute, said he’s looking to have an open discussion with students about foreign relations.

“I’ll just see what people want to ask and discuss,” Mitchell said. “I’m not an official representative of the Harris campaign, so I’m going to speak from my observation. I know [Kroenig], the guy on the other side of the debate; he’s here in Washington as well, so hopefully it will be a useful conversation with students on international affairs.”

Swartz, who planned the debate, said he came up with the idea when he found out the society hosted a similar event prior to the 2016 presidential election.

“I got the idea because we did one in 2016, and that was sort of our original,” Swartz said. “I don’t know if we did one in 2020, but we do debate-style events more frequently than that, just not about presidential stuff.”

Mitchell and Kroenig said they have been involved with the Alexander Hamilton Society for a considerable amount of time, with Kroenig currently serving as the advisor of Georgetown University’s chapter. Additionally, both said they have been speaking at Alexander Hamilton Society events across the country for several years.

Swartz said it is because of Kroenig’s and Mitchell’s involvement in the society that they were chosen to participate in the upcoming debate.

“The [Alexander Hamilton Society] has a library of [Alexander Hamilton Society] affiliated speakers,” Swartz said. “We’ve worked with Dr. Kroenig in the past, Ambassador Mitchell is a great speaker, and both of them are really knowledgeable, so it was an easy pick.”

Mitchell said he looks forward to answering students’ questions and traveling out of Washington.

“I just look forward to interacting with students,” Mitchell said. “I like getting out of Washington because it can be a bubble. I love speaking with students and hearing questions, hearing what’s on their minds and being very honest about my observations of U.S. foreign policy and what challenges exist out there.”

Similarly, Kroenig said he feels it’s important to discuss foreign relations with students outside of Washington, which is a large reason why he looks forward to visiting Ohio State’s campus.

“I’m fortunate to be in Washington, D.C., and I get to talk about foreign policy all day, every day,” Kroenig said. “I know that sometimes outside the Beltway, students at great universities like Ohio State aren’t engaging in foreign policy debates every day. I think having two experts, [Mitchell] and I, there to share our views will help educate the student body.”

Kroenig said on a broader scale, he feels that debating international relations is important for the country as a whole.

“What I get out of [doing the debate], personally, is it’s a mission, and it’s why I oversee the [Alexander Hamilton Society] chapter at Georgetown,” Kroenig said. “We are a democracy, and the U.S. is the most important country in the world and the most powerful, so the decisions our leaders make matter. I think it’s important for citizens of our democracy to debate these issues.”

Likewise, Mitchell said he wants students to understand how critical their role is in the upcoming presidential election.

“I consider this election to be the most important of my lifetime,” Mitchell said. “The stakes are enormous both at home and abroad, and I want to make sure students are aware of the importance of their vote. I’m not on Harris’ side just because I’m a Democrat.”

Swartz said he looks forward to hearing a more detailed conversation surrounding Harris’ and Trump’s views on international affairs.

“I’m looking forward to hearing a more in-depth discussion of foreign policy,” Swartz said. “I think in the presidential debate, because of the constraint speaking time and the fact that they’re speaking to such a big audience, you only get a really shallow view of what they actually think, so I think we’re going to get a much better idea of the candidates.”