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hatrack

(59,439 posts)
Thu Jan 14, 2021, 09:35 AM Jan 2021

Pompeo Finishes As He Started - An Arrogant, Thin-Skinned, Petty, Strutting Embarassment To America [View all]

EDIT

The portrait Pompeo has painted of Trump’s 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; it’s 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 America’s top diplomat, and described Trump’s 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”.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/14/mike-pompeo-lashes-out-reign-ends

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