Secretary of "Swagger" Bloviates in a Self-Serving Book
Pompeo dishonors those diplomats who sacrificed their lives for their country as well as the thousands today who serve worldwide.
Mike Pompeo was never a good fit to be Secretary of State. Ethically compromised by his Faustian relationship with Donald Trump, his vision distorted by radical right ideology and religious zeal, and failing to grasp that quixotic brass-knuckled “swagger” makes for poor diplomacy, the ex-Tea Party congressman/MAGA minion has come out with a self-serving memoir to try to turbocharge a delusional quest for the presidency. Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love is a slurry of rat-a-rat-tat attacks on his countless enemies mixed with North Korean-style servility to his Master, Donald Trump. Read it only if you’re researching for your next article or book on the troubled Trump era. Otherwise, check out the latest on Netflix.
The Washington Post, in its review, describes the book as “a master class in the performative anger poisoning American politics. Hatred animates this book. It’s got more venom than a quiver of cobras.”
It also brims with the rank hypocrisy that marks such MAGA heavy hitters as Lindsey Graham, Elise Stefanik & ilk. Example:
In 2016, Pompeo warned that Donald Trump, if elected, would be “an authoritarian president who ignored our Constitution.”
In 2022, addressing the RNC from a state visit to Jerusalem (a violation of the Hatch Act), in an eerie Major Ben Marco-esque delivery, he robotically droned, “Delivering on this duty to keep us safe and our freedoms intact, this president has led bold initiatives in nearly every corner of the world.”
Pompeo goes down as one of — if not the worst — secretaries of state in history (he’d be tied with the ephemeral Rex Tillerson but for the latter’s weeks-long tenure constituting little more than a proverbial “15 minutes of fame” and nothing more).
The Washington Post wrote in 2018, “Pompeo has managed to worsen the State Department’s already abysmal standing with every significant constituency. Legislators, major allies, the media, career staff, even North Korea are alienated. The only satisfied customer may be President Trump — and even he has grounds for grievance.”
His likely dumbest public iteration was his — again Ben Marco inspired — praise of Vladimir Putin, calling him a “genius” and “a very talented statesman. He has lots of gifts. He was a KGB agent, for goodness’ sakes. He knows how to use power. We should respect that.”
On second thought, an even dumber statement was this one, four days after Joe Biden crushed Trump in the 2020 presidential election: “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”
He later insisted he was jesting, but by that irresponsible statement, Pompeo shares at least some guilt in the January 6 Trump Putsch.
The Trump/Pompeo foreign policy was one based on whim, driven by theology and implemented by hacks. Among the lowlights:
He announced the establishment of something called the “Commission on Unalienable Rights,” aimed to formulate policies on social and human rights near and dear to the hearts of arch-conservatives, religiously-tinged with stress on anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ rights. Clearly designed to bypass the established bureaucracy (i.e., “Deep State”), the measure set a dangerous precedent for the process of U.S. foreign policy formulation.
“I keep a Bible open on my desk to remind me of God and his word, and the truth,” Pompeo said. Previously, as a congressman, he said, “It is a never-ending struggle…until the Rapture.”
“President Trump right now has been sort of raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from an Iranian menace," Pompeo told the BBC. “As a Christian, I certainly believe that’s possible,” adding, “I am confident that the Lord is at work here.”
It seems Mike Pompeo would have been a better fit as foreign minister of Iran.
Moreover, his time at State was constantly blemished by ethical violations, ranging from him and his wife ordering government employees to do personal chores, including picking up their dog, to using government funds to entertain political cronies. He fired an inspector general who was investigating these infractions; three others quit in quick succession, a hallmark of the corrupt Trump era.
Of all of Pompeo’s inane utterances, however, those that get very personal for me are his trashing the people who loyally served under him during his failed tenure. According to the Washington Post:
Pompeo disdained America’s career diplomats. He describes them, by turns, as un-American, deceitful denizens of the “deep state,” and “overwhelmingly hard left.”
The contempt was mutual. As I reported back then:
A retired U.S. ambassador who regularly visits the State Department, told me, “Morale is totally in the toilet. There is no process or any systems in place that are respected at all. The cafeteria is really doing a great business. Usually by 6 pm, the hallways are nearly deserted.” An active duty Foreign Service officer told me that “nobody knows what to do and everyone keeps their head low.” Senior career diplomats have been blackballed from taking positions on flimsy political grounds. Others are ducking for cover in marginal roles, waiting for the Trump occupation to end. Several other active duty officers have confided that they are “sticking it out” with the aim of trying to maintain or salvage norms from within and to rebuild the department once the Trump storm has passed.
One of these described an increasingly toxic work environment in which employees are afraid to speak frankly, even to friends for fear of being exposed and punished. Another stated he felt like “the last of the Mohicans.”
Applications to take the Foreign Service Officer Test plummeted to a record low during Pompeo’s term.
Most days of the week when he was Secretary, Pompeo would have passed by the department’s Memorial Plaques in the main diplomatic lobby on which are inscribed the names of 321 diplomats killed in the line of duty, seventy-eight of whom perished during my 23 years of service. Some were personal friends, or mentors, like Ambassador Arnie Raphel, killed in a still unsolved plane crash in Pakistan in 1988. His burial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, with military honors, still tugs at my heart.
I also had friends among the 52 Iran embassy hostages. Some underwent mock executions. One, Richard Queen, developed MS and died of the condition at age 51.
How dare an ex-secretary of state call these brave public servants, many of whom gave their last full measure for their country, “un-American,” “deep state,” “overwhelmingly hard left.” Pompeo, who spent his brief Army career in a cushy deployment in Germany, is what the troops on the front line refer to as a “REMF.”
Pompeo dishonors those diplomats who sacrificed their lives for their country as well as the thousands today who serve worldwide, including in hardship posts and war zones. He’s not worthy of the selfless service they gave him.
If anyone is “un-American” in this picture, it is Mike Pompeo.
Go peddle your lies in your self-serving, hate-filled book. And after your quest for the nation’s top job crashes and burns, recede into the obscurity you deserve, of corporate boards and malignant far-right neoplasms.
The opinions and characterizations in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent official positions of the U.S. government.