The next presidential race is on.
One probable candidate is former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
He just released a new book: “Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love.”
Pompeo must be a smart guy. He graduated first in his class at West Point. Then he went to Harvard Law School.
Interviewing him makes it clear that he is smarter and more thoughtful than most politicians. We talked for an hour about immigration, defense, education, tariffs, entitlement reform, pandemics and more.
We disagree about a lot.
Pompeo knows I’m a libertarian and would disagree with him about a lot. But he agreed to talk about … anything.
Then he repeatedly said things that surprised me.
Pompeo calls himself a “deficit hawk.” I give him a hard time about Republican hypocrisy, pointing out that under Trump, Republicans increased the deficit.
“Guilty as charged,” Pompeo replies. “My party has been no more serious about actually delivering solutions to this problem than the Democrat Party.”
That’s surprisingly honest.
He also doesn’t dodge the fact that Social Security and Medicare are going broke.
“The math suggests that somehow these trust funds run out about the time my son Nick will turn to Social Security.”
“What do you do?” I ask. “Raise retirement ages?”
“There’s nothing that should be off the table,” he answers.
That’s brave. Voters vilify politicians who admit that Medicare and Social Security are unsustainable and must be changed if they are to survive.
A cowardly President Donald Trump declared, “Under no circumstances should (we) cut a single penny.” A cowardly President Joe Biden agreed, calling Medicare and Social Security “a promise we made as a country.”
But that promise is now an impossible promise.
When Social Security began, most Americans didn’t even live to age 65. “Entitlements” were meant to protect the minority who lived long enough to exhaust their savings. But now we live an average of 76 years. Most of us will collect significantly more from Social Security and Medicare than we ever put in. That’s unsustainable.
Pompeo is a rare politician who admits that something has to change.
Then he surprised me again.
Since Pompeo is called a “staunch conservative,” I assumed that he would say we should spend more on the military. But he didn’t.
“There’s no need to spend more money than we’re spending today.”
Again, that was refreshing.
America already spends $800 billion, more than the next nine countries combined. Finally, a hawkish Republican not so eager to pander to the military establishment.
As secretary of state, Pompeo met with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un. He calls Putin a “thug.” He criticized China so much that Trump told him, “Shut the hell up about China!” He calls Kim Jong-un an “evil mass murderer.”
So who is the most dangerous person in the world?
“Randi Weingarten,” says Pompeo.
That was another surprise. Teachers union boss Randi Weingarten is more dangerous than dictators?
“We’ll figure out Putin. We’ll figure out Xi Jinping,” Pompeo replies. “But you teach kids that America is a racist nation? … that groups matter more than individuals? … that there’s an oppressor class and somehow America is the most indecent nation in the history of the world? You’re done.”
What would he do about education if he were president?
It’s my trick question. I long for a politician who will answer questions like that by saying, “Nothing! It’s not a president’s job.”
Education is a job for local governments. The Feds have no business trying to micromanage schools, although that didn’t stop George W. Bush and Barack Obama from pushing No Child Left Behind and Common Core.
I assumed Pompeo would have some similar plan, but he surprised me again by just saying, “I would speak about it often.”
“Speak.” That’ it.
Unlike most politicians with presidential ambition, Pompeo acknowledges that the Constitution puts limits on federal power.
Regarding education, he says, “Get the federal government out of that. … Let school boards, school superintendents, teachers and governors control decisions for their own students, instead of some knucklehead bureaucrat at the U.S. Department of Education.”
Then he added, “get rid of” the Department of Education.
Finally! A politician actually open to shrinking federal power.
Pompeo said (in my opinion) bad things, too. I’ll cover that next week.
Every Tuesday at JohnStossel.com, Stossel posts a new video about the battle between government and freedom.
There is nothing surprising. POMPEO,the born-again,Evangelical Christian, is a Globalist, neocon
and open WARMONGER,promoting war against CHINA.
It shows how stupid he is.As the former CIA chief (intelligence) he knows for a fact that war with China:
1. Would very quickly destroy the US economy,bring the collapse of the dollar even faster.
Which would make the US DEFAULT, crashing the dollar even more, bringing HYPERINFLATION.
Why? Due to a debt of 31.5 TRILLION, which all experts say can NEVER be repaid. Also the US BUYS a lot more from China than viceverse.
A war would CUT OFF the supply of 90% of computers,cellphones,TVs,and other electronic devices,since China produces 90% of those goods. Plus 90% of medicines are made in China.
2.But Pompeo doesn’t care. Also he also knows the US can NOT win a war with China, all its warships would be destroyed by missiles. Pompeo,as a GLOBALIST ( totalitarian ideology) is just saying charming things to deceive.
You guys would benefit from losing 90% of your medication, you tend to rely on it too much rather than natural remedies.
I am also a Libertarian,like Stossel,and on FEB 19 there will be an ANTIWAR rally organized by the
LIBERTARIAN and PEOPLE’s Party(also called Populist Party ) in front of Lincoln Memorial in Washington,DC. It is called the “Rage against the war machine”
Same place where MARTIN LUTHER KING held his rally where he said his speech,”I have a dream”.
Both parties will present these 10 DEMANDS:
Not One More Penny for War in Ukraine
Negotiate Peace
Stop the War Inflation
DISBAND NATO
Global Nuclear De-Escalation
Slash the Pentagon budget
ABOLISH the CIA and Military-Industrial Deep State
Abolish War and Empire
Restore Civil Liberties
Free JULIAN ASSANGE
The speakers to be present are of DIFFERENT ideological convictions but ALL agree on those 10 demands,some are Libertarians, some Leftists,etc.
Here are some of them: RON PAUL(libertarian)(father of RAND PAUL,who has proven FAUCI is a criminal),
JIMMY DORE(Leftist) and SCOTT RITTER ( centrist),
KIM IVERSEN ( Conservative), SCOTT HORTON (Libertarian),
and GARLAND NIXON ( black leftist) and MAX BLUMENTHAL (Leftist),
TULSI GABARD ( yes,the great Tulsi),
JACKSON HINKLE(Leftists), JILL STEIN ( of the GREEN party) etc.
The Antiwar Rally almost did NOT happen.
1.First,the Libertarian Party INVITED Scott Ritter to be a speaker.It was THEIR idea.
Then SCOTT HORTON,famous Libertarian author,for some immature,emotional reason,acted
like a SOYBOY and threatened and scared the Libertarian Party to CANCEL their invitation to Scott Ritter.
2.Then a MIRACLE happened, all but two of the speakers who had been invited(one is Horton himself) said:
Since you have CANCELED Scott Ritter then we will NOT go to the rally.
So the Libertarian,which is SUPPOSEDLY Free Speech for all, had to REINVITE Scott Ritter.
Thank goodness,thanks to Tulsi Gabbard,Ron Paul,Kim Iversen,etc.
I am a Trump guy but I would definitely keep an eye on Pompeo should Trump somehow flame out. Maybe a Trump Pompeo ticket?
No Moore Trump. Please.
We don’t need Big Brother standing over us 24/7
Hot off the press,in an article with many,many details,is the article by PULITZER prize-winning journalist SEYMOUR HERSH:
“How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline:
The New York Times called it a “mystery,” but the United States executed a covert sea operation that was kept secret—until now ”
Here it is:
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream
HERSH is well-known for having very good contacts .He a LEGEND:
Hersh first gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, for which he received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. During the 1970s, Hersh covered the Watergate scandal for The New York Times and revealed the clandestine bombing of Cambodia.
In 2004, he reported on the U.S. military’s mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison.
Hersh has accused the Obama administration of lying about the events surrounding the death of Osama bin Laden
and disputed the claim that the Assad regime used chemical weapons on civilians in the Syrian Civil War.