12:08 p.m. ET, October 16, 2019

Joe Biden's shining moment

Americans – and the world – will wake up the morning after the debate wishing the Democratic candidates focused more sharply on the increasingly urgent matter of US foreign policy. The topic received short shrift on Tuesday night, even though it dominates headlines due to the chaotic, incoherent policies of President Donald Trump, which have already triggered an impeachment inquiry in the US and continue to cause turmoil in the Middle East.

Trump has turned US foreign policy on its head by abandoning our allies, manipulating foreign powers for personal political gain, and expressing an inexplicable affection for anti-democratic rulers.

That’s what former Vice President Joe Biden pointed out in his most passionate and effective moment of the night. “We have an erratic, crazy president, who knows not a damn thing about foreign policy and operates out of fear for his own re-election,” Biden said.

Biden also called Trump out for siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin, all while the Kremlin tries to break up NATO. Biden added a chilling – and utterly credible warning – “If [Trump's] re-elected, I promise you there will be no NATO.”

Tulsi Gabbard, who has a track record of defending Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad , also had harsh words for Trump when she said, “Donald Trump has the blood of the Kurds on his hands,” before adding that everyone who supported what she called a “regime-change” war in Syria does as well.

Biden vehemently disagreed and said the US intervened not for regime change, but to "make sure that the regime did not wipe out hundreds of thousands of innocent people between there and the Iraqi border." He also said the US intervened to prevent ISIS from attacking America, something he said might now happen after Trump’s policy reversal.