What a blast of good sense is blowing in from Idaho. That is our response to the statement issued by Senator Risch, the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the 119th Congress. The Gem State lawmaker appears to understand the task ahead in respect of America’s role in the world. After years of drift, a dose of Boise brilliance could be just what Capitol Hill — and the White House — need to chart a course.

Mr. Risch is clear-eyed about the threat of Communist China. He declares that the People’s Republic “presents the most significant long-term risk to the United States that I have witnessed.” Beijing, if anything, has grown even more rapacious in the declining days of the Biden administration. Witness the encirclement of Taiwan by Chicom warships. President-elect Trump has sent mixed signals. Maybe Mr. Risch can summon his better angels. 

Next, Mr. Risch declares that “Israel, our strongest ally in the Middle East, fights a multi-front war against Iran and our common adversaries following a brutal and unprovoked attack. The Biden Administration failed to properly support Israel in its self defense and efforts to eradicate Hamas, which has only prolonged the terrible situation in Israel and Gaza.” It would be difficult to craft a more precise précis of the situation in the Middle East.

Mr. Biden, after traveling to Israel in the days after October 7, hemmed and hawed about supporting the Jewish state even as it fought a war on several fronts. He was particularly intransigent with respect to supplying Israel with the matériel it needed to win, as well as obstructing its operations at Rafah, which he called a “red line.” Once Israel pushed past that demarcation, it was able to land blows on Hamas and kill its leader, Yahya Sinwar. 

Trump is signaling that if Hamas fails to return hostages before January 20, there will be “hell to pay.” Mr. Risch’s tone suggests that a Republican Senate could stand ready to make him make good on that vow. Also pending is legislation, already passed by the House, to punish the International Criminal Court for its targeting of Israel. Democrats — Senator Schumer, particularly — have blocked such legislation. Will they now see sense?

Our Benny Avni reports that America and Israel are now, in conjoining their fight against the Houthis in Yemen, probing the possibilities of a joint, or at least a coordinated, attack against Iran. For such an enterprise to be successful, the Senate will have its part to play. Mr. Risch has also been ahead of the curve in respect of the atrocities in Sudan at a time when the world’s focus — myopic, to be sure — has been glued to how Israel wages its war.

Finally, Mr. Risch’s statement declares that “Vladimir Putin — with the support of the Chinese government — continues his violent assault on Ukraine. Putin has escalated this war over and over again.” Here, as in the Middle East, Mr. Biden has paired intermittently robust rhetoric with underwhelming follow through. An effort to manage the war has led to it dragging on unmanageably. Now it will be Trump’s turn to wind up the war.

President-elect Trump will take the oath of office in a world more dangerous than he left it in 2021. He will have to contend not only with a host of feckless Democrats, but also strands of a baleful isolationism in his own party. The stout advice offered by Mr. Risch — and ideally reinforced by the president-elect’s nominee for secretary of state, Senator Rubio — provides grounds for optimism that a new and common-sense course can be set.