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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPompeo Finishes As He Started - An Arrogant, Thin-Skinned, Petty, Strutting Embarassment To America
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The portrait Pompeo has painted of Trumps America has been in dramatic contrast to recent events. Two days after Congress came under an unprecedented violent attack by a mob egged on by Trump, Pompeo blithely tweeted: Being the greatest country on earth is not just about our incredible economy & our strong military; its about the values we project out into the world. He also boasted his state department team did more than any other to build alliances that secured American interests days before having to cancel his swansong trip to Europe because his counterparts did not want to see him.
The Luxembourg foreign minister signalled he would be unavailable to meet Americas top diplomat, and described Trumps behaviour as criminal. The Belgian foreign minister, Sophie Wilmès, who Pompeo was also supposed to have met on the trip, made clear on Twitter that her government was counting on Joe Biden to restore US unity and stability.
It is unprecedented for an American secretary of state to be unwelcome at any time, especially at the end of their tenure, in the foreign ministries of our closest allies, Brett Bruen, who was director of Global Engagement in the Obama White House, said. It just goes to show how far he has ostracised himself.
In his would-be victory lap, Pompeo known for being thin-skinned has restricted his media interviews to admiring conservative talkshow hosts and has not taken questions after his speeches. At the headquarters of the state-funded Voice of America (VOA) station on Monday, he berated its journalists for being insufficiently patriotic, even demeaning America. He told them to broadcast that this is the greatest nation the world has ever known.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/14/mike-pompeo-lashes-out-reign-ends
milestogo
(16,829 posts)Roisin Ni Fiachra
(2,574 posts)madaboutharry
(40,241 posts)Ugh.
eleny
(46,166 posts)moonscape
(4,675 posts)So delusional, like most of them.
underpants
(182,970 posts)oasis
(49,434 posts)Pay your own way, Mr. Private citizen.
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)more of their agenda while in power, but he will have his own list of what's been accomplished, including personal successes.
We're not out of this yet. We could still end up living in an authoritarian police state run by white Christian nationalist cabals. And Pompeo would be among them.
NCDem47
(2,252 posts)Ambition alone won't get him to the top. There are more cunning and devilish Republican players out there jockeying for higher office that will keep him a minor player from here on out.
Good ridance.
leftieNanner
(15,187 posts)Will open some investigations into him. His ambition may be cut short by his hubris.
marble falls
(57,405 posts)gademocrat7
(10,679 posts)He has done more to destroy the moral of The State Department than any previous Secretary of State.