Finding post-election foreign policy unity

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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Control of the U.S. Senate could come down to a December runoff in Georgia. That's fitting, considering the closeness of an election in which democracy itself seemed on the ballot.

Beyond the Beltway and the nation's borders, the world will be watching. Not just to get a sense of Washington's orientation over the next two years, but also in search of reassurance that democracy — once America's proudest, most profound export — is still worthy of admiration, let alone emulation.

What the world has seen since the 2020 election hasn't inspired confidence. That vote's big loser — former President Donald Trump — refused to concede, encouraged a violent mob to ransack the citadel of democracy, the U.S. Capitol, and then defiantly lied about the election results and the Jan. 6 aftermath. Ever since, hundreds of Republican officeholders and candidates, including the majority who ran in Tuesday's election, have disgracefully been complicit in denying or questioning the results.

These events have alienated U.S. allies and emboldened adversaries. Ideally, politics would truly stop at the water's edge. Short of that objective, President Joe Biden and congressional leaders must come together around some fundamental foreign policies.

Most notably and consequentially regarding Ukraine, where courageous patriots backed by Western resolve, sanctions and arms have made great gains — including in the strategically key city of Kherson.

Wobbling on Ukraine could send a signal to Chinese President Xi Jinping that it's time to take Taiwan, an outcome that must be avoided, especially since Biden has removed the nuance of the "strategic ambiguity" that has defined U.S. policy for decades by indicating that that the U.S. would come to the defense of the beleaguered island.

Overall, both Republicans and Democrats have rightly signaled resolve on standing up to China, giving hope that this is an area where bipartisan cooperation is possible. Commonalities can be found on Iran, too. While Biden was initially right to try to revive the nuclear deal that even the Trump administration said Tehran was honoring, it seems politically difficult if not impossible now as the theocracy defiles the religion it's based on by killing its citizens over headscarves, all the while going beyond its usual regional malfeasance to partner with the Kremlin to deploy drones against Ukraine. Now is not the time to throw the regime a lifeline.

Cohesion will be harder to find regarding the southern U.S. border, but cooperation must occur because the situation is unsustainable. Undocumented crossings have surged, burdening border cities and leading to an inhumane game of red-state governors duping and dumping desperate refugees and migrants into blue-state enclaves. Solutions are possible. But they will take political courage, not the political cowardice that's marked this situation for years.

Climate change mitigation will be similarly difficult. But the country can no longer afford to approach the issue as a partisan endeavor with the world on "a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator," as described by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres this week. By definition a global problem, climate change solutions will require diplomacy and international collaboration. That's unlikely to happen if partisanship freezes U.S. leadership.

Other foreign-policy issues, including crises seen — like tensions with Saudi Arabia — as well as those unforeseen, will require cooperation between Republicans and Democrats.