Mike Pompeo Hits the Ground Running

secretary of state mike pompeo

The opposition to new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo all seems like a distant dream now that new DOS head has been sworn in. Just how good was the choice? Well, even the mainstream media is taking time out of its conservative sniping to applaud it.

U.S. News and World Report noted the “mostly favorable picture of Pompeo,” pointing out “his strong working relationship with President Trump and his accomplishments during his time in the Army, Congress and the CIA.” The Washington Post, who surprised readers with its endorsement of the former CIA Director, insists that Pompeo will be a welcome change from his predecessor at DOS. “Pompeo is expected to strike a dramatically different tone with Trump than his predecessor, Rex Tillerson, who had a testy relationship with the president that often left them publicly at odds.”

Over at the Hill, the confirmation was dubbed “a setback for liberals.” And while the New York Times didn’t go out of its way to praise the pick, it did mention how opposing Pompeo might have hurt some Democrats’ midterm chances. Over at the Associated Press, the press pool announced that a plane was held on the tarmac until Pompeo could be sworn in and take off on his first international trip.

“No secretary of state had ever traveled abroad so soon after being confirmed,” the AP reports. Pompeo “will attend a NATO foreign ministers summit” in Brussels “and meet with the top diplomats from Turkey and Italy. … From there, the State Department said Pompeo planned to fly to the Middle East for stops in Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan.”

Obviously, Trump’s decision to replace Tillerson is already paying off. After an impressive year at the CIA, where he was a popular and successful manager, Pompeo is ready to slide right into his role with the trust he’s already built with leaders around the world. Of course, one of the issues he’ll be prioritizing, with the help of Ambassador Sam Brownback, is international religious liberty. That will be a welcome change from Obama’s foreign policy, which approached the idea as a humanitarian issue — to be address when possible, but not incorporated into any wider, strategic thinking about security in the world order.

But what if it should be? FRC plans to discuss that in a special event next Wednesday, May 2 at noon. We’ll be highlighting a developing body of evidence that suggests the presence of religious freedom is significantly connected to security, stability, and prosperity. Distinguished guests Dr. Thomas Farr, president of the Religious Freedom Institute, and Catholic University’s Professor Robert Destro will join Tony and our own Travis Weber to talk about these findings and what Secretary Pompeo might do to shift America’s approach on this issue.

For more information or to register for the event, visit our website.

Tony Perkins – president of the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council

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