‘Pomp’ primes the PAC

‘Right’ on at confab

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo extolled the merits of small government and called the national debt “indecent” at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference Friday.

The West Point grad and possible presidential candidate (pictured) argued that Republicans in recent years have given “government more power under the guise of conservatism,” which has cost the party elections, swelled the national debt and caused a bevy of domestic economic problems accentuated under President Biden.

“A free people can’t survive an unrelenting growth of government,” the Republican ex-Trump administration official told attendees.

“Pervasive regulation, taxes, government controls — these are the things that are driving inflation and make your eggs so expensive today,” he added.

“But just as importantly, they erode the American commitment to the dignity of hard work. Those of us who get up every day and get after it. The fairness of playing by the rules is abrogated when government steps in and awards bonuses to people based on something other than the fact that they worked hard and were decent and good,” Pompeo said.

Without naming names, Pompeo observed that conservative leaders nowadays seem to “want to walk away from” the commitment to equality championed by the likes of Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and “they just want to hand out the benefits differently.”

Donald Trump’s ex-CIA director argued that the GOP has lost several “winnable” races of late because “voters didn’t trust us to do any better than the tax-andspend liberals,” adding that voters have “lost trust in conservative ideas.”

A WPA Intelligence survey released last month found Pompeo far back in the pack of a hypothetical nine-person GOP primary field, with only 2% support among registered Republican voters.

Pompeo has yet to formally announce his 2024 plans, but said in December he would make a decision in the spring on whether to run for president.