Why Dana Rohrabacher should be Trump’s secretary of State

There is no better choice for secretary of State than Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). When it comes to foreign policy experience, personal integrity and a proven track record of pro-Americanism, no one comes close.

Those who have worked with Rohrabacher on the House Foreign Affairs Committee know him as a tireless advocate of policies that put America first while supporting democracy movements and freedom fighters around the world.

As a senior speechwriter and advisor for eight years to President Ronald Reagan, Rohrabacher helped craft the Reagan Doctrine that lead to the end of the Cold War, freed millions of people, and lifted the threat of nuclear annihilation.

Rohrabacher inherited Reagan’s moral clarity that always leads him to fight for those who are under the thumb of totalitarian oppressors, even when to do so is unpopular.  Fighting for America, he believes, goes hand in hand with fighting for freedom.

For years, Rohrabacher spearheaded the effort in Congress to deny fast track trading status to China, going against Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, the Republican and Democratic leadership, the Chamber of Commerce and most of the Republican Party.

He argued passionately over and over again that the United States should not sell out the American worker and subsidize the communist regime in Beijing so that big businesses could improve their bottom line.

This country was founded, he said, on more than making a buck. This type of independence cost him the chairmanship of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He knew it but fought on anyway.

More recently, during the 2016 presidential campaign, Rohrabacher made news for backing Donald Trump when doing so was seen as political suicide. When news of Trump’s hot mic moment broke, professional Republican politicians started jumping ship.

The first overboard was Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Much of his caucus followed suit. But Rohrabacher did the equivalent of Patton-slapping the leadership and brought his colleagues back to their senses. The Republican Party rallied to Donald Trump and he won the White House.

Though he fights for his principles with tenacity, he always does so as a gentleman. As a result he has many friends on the other side of the political aisle. They respect Rohrabacher for never engaging in ad hominem attacks during heated debates on the House floor. His staff deeply love him, many continuing to work for him for years or even decades. He treats them well and they believe in him and the causes he fights for.  

Rohrabacher does not bend to fads and does not need a focus group or a poll to tell him what to believe This is a rare trait for a modern politician. What you see is what you get.  He has an unwavering core of beliefs rooted in a strong love of this country. As for his diplomatic philosophy, he is not deluded about what much of the rest of the world is like.  

He knows America is the shining city on the hill and that people give their lives to have what we have here. He is always on the side of those abroad fighting for what we take for granted: freedom of speech, the press, and religion; the ability to choose one’s own destiny; the freedom to protest one’s government; free and fair elections; and a free and open internet.

He knows that appeasing totalitarians, shipping jobs to communist countries and turning a blind eye to terrorists weakens America and puts the dream of freedom out of reach for more people.

We live in an age in which politicians are under such a microscope that many of them shed all authenticity to the point that they look and sound like robots. They are scripted, poll tested, and wooden.

With the election of 2016 the American people chose a president who, whether you agree with him or not, speaks from the heart. He threw the political script out the window. It is now up to him to choose America’s chief diplomat.  

He could do no better than Dana Rohrabacher, a fellow straight shooter whose fight for freedom has benefitted our country and the rest of the world for almost four decades.

With a legacy that includes helping to abolish the communist nuclear threat and freeing millions of people from the jackboot of totalitarianism, no one in the running has a record that even comes close.

There is more to be done and Rohrabacher is the man to do it.

Phaedra Dugan worked for Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) for eight years in his personal office and as his staff director on the House Foreign Affairs Committee human rights subcommittee.

The views of Contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.