Confirm Mike Pompeo
Monday, Democrats and one Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are set to vote against confirming former Congressman and CIA chief Mike Pompeo, President Trump’s choice to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. Pompeo will then get sent to the full Senate, where the odds of getting through are better.
Pompeo would not be our choice to be America’s top diplomat, but unlike other patently unqualified Trump cabinet picks, he is a solid enough selection who deserves Senate consent.
He’s set to lose in committee because Democrats, unanimous in their opposition over Pompeo’s general hawkishness on foreign policy, will be joined by Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who is steamed about Pompeo’s support of the Iraq War and enhanced interrogation of terrorist suspects.
What worries us most about Pompeo is his history of inflammatory statements about Islam that could unnecessarily heighten tensions with Muslim-majority nations when America needs moderate allies to defeat terrorists around the world.
In 2016, Pompeo accepted an award from ACT for America, a group the Anti-Defamation League called the “largest anti-Muslim group in the United States” for, among other things, protesting the construction of mosques. That same year, he referred to “people who deeply believe that Islam is the way” as a “threat to America.”
At State, Pompeo must bite his tongue. While it is important to speak clearly about the threat from Islamist radicals, it is downright dangerous to paint a religion with a billion adherents with such a broad brush.
Notwithstanding these flaws, beggars can’t be choosers. The United States of America is flying through turbulent skies with only President Trump piloting the plane.
Troops remain in Syria, even as the President promises a pullout as soon as humanly possible. Trump will soon meet North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in a high-wire, high-stakes nuclear negotiation that could go very badly indeed.
Relations with China are tense as a trade war heats up. And the President continues to send mixed signals on Russia despite its 2016 election mischief and support of Bashar Assad.
In hearings, Pompeo committed to rebuilding a State Department where experienced staff fled in droves and morale hit rock bottom during the feckless leadership of Tillerson.
Pompeo also has solid knowledge of the world, the discipline to oversee complex diplomacy and — a double-edged sword, we admit — the trust of a President who seems to believe in almost no one.
That’ll have to do. Confirm him.