Resigned to leaving the State Department eight weeks after the Nov. 3 presidential election, 57-year-old Secretary of State Mike Pompeo got philosophical to Bloomberg’s David Rubenstein about his legacy in office. Pompeo told Rubenstein he thought the country was safer after four year of 74-year-old Donald Trump’s foreign policy than his 59-year-old predecessor former President Barack Obama. Regretting that more couldn’t be done with Iran and North Korea, Pompeo said that U.S. national security was in better shape than when Obama left office. During Obama’s tenure, Pompeo pointed out the that the U.S. government funded an eight-year proxy war in Syria, resulting in 500,000 deaths and 15 million driven into refugees, largely in Turkey and Europe. Under Trump and Pompeo, the U.S. deescalated U.S. involvement in costly Mideast wars.
Pompeo’s honest reflection to Rubenstein about his tenure marks the first time since the Nov. 3 election that he accepts his fate that he’ll be leaving the State Department Jan. 20. Trump told Georgia voters last night that the fate of his election lied in the capable hands of his 61-year-old Vice President Mike Pence. Tomorrow’s perfunctory Electoral vote tally in a joint session of Congress will be just that, no surprises other than a Republican dog-and-pony show, expressing grievances about the 2020 presidential election. When the theatrics end, 78-year-old President-elect Joe Biden will be certified as the official winner in the Congressional record. Trump will have succeeded of entering his protests into the Congressional record for posterity that he thought the 2020 election was rigged. Pompeo’s admission today speaks volumes about what happens tomorrow.
Rubenstein cleverly asked Pompeo to reflect on his accomplishment, getting the fiercely loyal Secretary of State to admit his work was coming to an end. “So as we talk in the first week in January, do you thin the world is safer today than it was a year ago or two years or there years ago, or maybe it’s not qui as safe as it was,” Rubenstein asked Pompeo. “No, I think we are leaving—after four years, I thin we’re leaving the world safer that when we came it,” Pompeo said, acknowledging for the first time that “we are leaving,” a newsworthy admission one day before Congress assembles to certify the Electoral College vote. Pompeo advised the next Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to take the China threat seriously and “push back on Iran.” Biden’s family has strong business ties with China and Joe already signaled he plans to rejoin Obama’s 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action AKA the “Iranian Nuke Deal.”
Pompeo’s admission that he’s finishing up his work should remind skeptics that tomorrow’s joint sessions of Congress should go as expected confirming Biden as President-elect. Pompeo took over from 68-year-old Rex Tillerson April 26, 2018, getting much accomplished compared to his predecessor. Tillerson, a former CEO of Exxon-Mobil, looked lost in his job, unable to command the position for whatever reasons. Pompeo hit the ground running, loving every minute of his time at the State Department. Unlike Tillerson, Pompeo was on the same page as Trump, executing his foreign policy to the letter, taking a tough stance on China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. Blinken has none of Pompeo’s charisma—and bravado—to get America’s enemies paying attention to possible consequences to harming the U.S. or its allies. Blinken looks to follow in the footsteps of 73-year-of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.and 77-year-old Secretary of State John Kerry
Blinken should study carefully the foreign policy differences between former Obama Secretaries of State Hillary and Kerry, both continued a policy that toppled Libyan strongman Col. Muammar Gaddafi Oct. 20, 2011 during the Arab Spring, swamping Libya with terrorism. Both Hillary and Kerry backed the Syrian proxy war and Libyan debacle. When 52-year-old Libyan Amb. Chris Stevens was killed with three other Amreicans in a terrorist attack on the Benghazi consulate Sept. 12, 2012 Hillary and the Obama administration denied any responsibility. Blinken should try to learn from Hillary and Kerry’s mistakes. When it came to Mideast diplomacy, Obama had had a poor relationship with Israel, often taking the sides of Palestinians, leaving Mideast peace more elusive. Blinken should look at Trump’s approach to Mideast diplomacy: Because it worked.
In less that three years as Secretary of State, Pompeo did an impressive job of promoting U.S. interests around the globe. Pompeo ended the the Paris Climate Accord or Iranian Nuke Deal, executing Trump’s foreign policy to the letter, keeping the U.S. out of more Mideast wars, doing everything possible to bring home more U.S. troops. When it came to Mideast peace, Trump set out the best blueprint for peace in the region, signing several peace deals with Israel and other Arab states. Returning back to the same failed policies of the past, Blinken should follow Pompeo and not let Palestinians wreck Mideast peacemaking. Trump’s historic peace deals should earn him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021. Pompeo didn’t let up one second, traveling the globe at breakneck speed to promote U.S. interests. He no doubts has regrets that he can’t have four more years to finish the job.
