No-show Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin has been making headlines this past week for saying publicly that he’d be willing to back Donald Trump.
But Zeldin wrapping his arms around Trump isn’t really a surprise, as both are two peas in a pod when it comes recklessly grandstanding on foreign policy.
Zeldin – a frequent guest on Fox News foreign policy segments – garnered embarrassing headlines when the New York Post reported that Zeldin had “missed more than half of full [Foreign Affairs] committee hearings last year.”
Even more alarming, Zeldin skipped out of two-thirds of “full committee and subcommittee hearings focused just on ISIS and the Syrian crisis – issues Zeldin regularly lectures about on cable news.”
Trump’s grandstanding on foreign policy has drawn scorn from conservative national security experts who warn against his dangerous rhetoric. Even Mitt Romney said earlier this week that Trump “would make America and the world less safe.”
“Whether it’s no-show Lee Zeldin’s record of blowing off ISIS hearings in Congress or Trump’s dangerous foreign policy views, Zeldin and Trump are cut from the same cloth when it comes to their reckless grandstanding on foreign policy,” said Bryan Lesswing at the DCCC. “It’s one thing to wrap his arms around Trump, but is no-show Lee Zeldin really ready to endorse his reckless views that even conservative national security experts warn would make America less safe?”
This isn’t the first time Zeldin has backed Trump’s foreign policy views.
As Trump made a swing through Washington to court lawmakers in September, Zeldin “broadly praised Trump’s positioning on foreign policy.” According to the ABC News piece, Zeldin even embraced Trump’s hateful and disparaging rhetoric, noting that “Americans want candid, brutally honest, sometimes politically incorrect leadership.”