Mike Pompeo in Trump Cabinet members actions and issues
On Principles & Values:
Denies that Trump undercuts US support for free elections
At his news conference, Pompeo roundly dismissed a question about whether Trump's unfounded protests have created problems for U.S. credibility. "You asked a question that is ridiculous,"
he responded. "This department cares deeply to make sure that elections around the world are safe and secure and free and fair, and my officers risk their lives to ensure that that happens."
Source: A.P., "Denying Biden's Victory", on Trump Cabinet
Nov 13, 2020
On Foreign Policy:
Chinese Communist Party is enmeshed in our society
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tried to rally the European Union against China during a trip to Czechia, where he proclaimed that "[t]he CCP is already enmeshed in our economies, in our politics, in our societies in ways the Soviet Union never was."
Referencing the Chinese Communist Party, rather than "Chinese people" more generally is one effective way to dodge accusations of racial bias. But the point is clear as day: The enemy is already within our ranks and its face is yellow.
Source: Current Affairs magazine on Trump Cabinet
Oct 31, 2020
On Foreign Policy:
Chinese Communist Party co-opted World Health Organization
"When you have an incident in your country that could potentially lead to a pandemic, you have an obligation to report that and to allow others to come in and help you be transparent about it. The Chinese Communist Party chose differently. They co-opted
Source: CNBC's coverage of 2020 Trump Cabinet
Jul 21, 2020
On Foreign Policy:
Benghazi was "worse, in some ways, than Watergate"
For a man acknowledged to be highly intelligent, Mike Pompeo has a long history of talking nonsense. As a greenhorn House member, brought to Congress by the Tea Party wave of 2010, he made his name by pushing conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton.
He claimed, without evidence, that she was complicit in the murder of four Americans at an outpost in Benghazi, Libya, to a degree that was "worse, in some ways, than Watergate."
Source: The Economist newsmagazine on Trump Cabinet
May 16, 2020
On Foreign Policy:
America First; treat the world with some skepticism
His articulation of an America First foreign policy that engages with the world consistently but skeptically is a fair stab at making Trumpism coherent. Mr. Pompeo, contrary to the impression he sometimes gives, is a serious grown-up, who has at
least grudging respect from many in the foreign-policy establishment. His basic vision, of a confident America working with allies, is pretty standard foreign policy, suggests Leon Panetta, a former Democratic cia director and defense secretary.
Source: The Economist newsmagazine on Trump Cabinet
May 16, 2020
On Foreign Policy:
Claims MIT snubbed him due to their China ties
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lashed out at officials at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for allegedly refusing to host him so as not to offend Communist China and thus keep their Chinese interests intact. While speaking at the Georgia
Institute of Technology, Pompeo accused the Chinese Communist Party of "poisoning" the nation's university system and said U.S. schools were censoring anti-Beijing dissent because they're "hooked on Chinese Communist Party cash."
Source: The New American on Trump Cabinet
May 6, 2020
On Foreign Policy:
Prevented G7 statement by insisting on using "Wuhan virus"
Members of the G7--the U.S. and its six closest allies--did meet to write a joint statement. But even that tepid project ended in ludicrous rancor when the American secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, insisted on using the expression "Wuhan virus"
and the others gave up in disgust. Not only is the president talking nonsense, not only is America absent, but the nation's top diplomat is a caricature of a tough guy--someone who throws around insults in the absence of any capacity to influence events.
Source: The Atlantic magazine on Trump Cabinet
May 3, 2020
On War & Peace:
Killing Soleimani "took a bad guy off the battlefield"
[On the U.S. assassination of an Iranian General]: "We took a bad guy off the battlefield," Pompeo told CNN. "We made the right decision." The same day, Pompeo told ABC that killing Soleimani was important "because this was a fella who was the glue, who
was conducting active plotting against the United States of America, putting American lives at risk." The source said taking out Soleimani had been Pompeo's mission for a decade.
Source: CNN.com on Trump Cabinet
Jan 9, 2020
On War & Peace:
Oppose Iran setting up Hezbollah targeting in Golan Heights
[Trump issued a proclamation recognizing Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights, on March 25, 2019]. The Golan Heights were captured by Israel during the Six Day War in 1967 from the Syrian army, which used the strategic high ground overlooking
Galilee to launch attacks on Israeli territory. Since then, the area has been recognised as highly strategic in maintaining Israel's dominance over the Syrian border.Israel administered the Heights through military law until 1981, in the same way in
which it administered the West Bank and Gaza Strip, before the Menachem Begin government directly applied Israeli law and effectively annexed the territory to the Israeli state.
At a meeting between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Jerusalem yesterday, the Israeli premier accused Iran of aiming to set up a Hezbollah cell to target Israel from the Golan Heights, claiming Israel's sovereignty of the territory is for its security.
Source: Middle East Monitor on Trump Cabinet, "Golan Heights"
Mar 21, 2019
On War & Peace:
Withdraw from INF to counter Russia and China
Trump said that Russia has violated the INF. NATO said that if Moscow failed to destroy all new missile systems that Washington insists violate the treaty, "Russia will bear sole responsibility for the end of the treaty."U.S. officials also have
expressed worry that China, which is not party to the 1987 treaty, is gaining a significant military advantage by deploying large numbers of missiles with ranges beyond the treaty's limit. Leaving the INF treaty would allow the Trump administration to
counter the Chinese, but it's unclear how it would do that.
Mike Pompeo said that Washington gave Moscow 60 days to return to compliance before it gave formal notice of withdrawal, with actual withdrawal taking place six months later.
A Russian
deputy foreign minister said of the INF talks, "The position of the American side is very tough and like an ultimatum."
The US has no nuclear-capable missiles based in Europe; the last of that type and range were withdrawn in line with the INF treaty.
Source: Tyler (TX) Morning Telegraph on 2018 Trump Cabinet
Feb 1, 2019
On War & Peace:
Negotiate from strength to denuclearize North Korea
Pompeo staked out exceedingly ambitious goals for Donald Trump's upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Pompeo, an unsparing critic of the nuclear agreement with Iran, vowed to not repeat Barack Obama's mistakes. He promised that Pres.
Trump would secure a better deal with North Korea, which already has a sophisticated nuclear-weapons arsenal, than his predecessor did with Iran, which had yet to acquire nuclear weapons."The previous administration was negotiating from a position of
weakness. This administration will be negotiating from a position of enormous strength," Pompeo said. He noted that the Trump administration's international sanctions campaign had forced North Korea to engage diplomatically with the US and suspend
its nuclear and missile tests while doing so. The administration's plan for the talks, he explained, is to maintain and increase economic pressure on North Korea while aiming for the "complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of North Korea."
Source: The Atlantic magazine on 2018 Trump Cabinet
Mar 14, 2018
Page last updated: Dec 03, 2021