Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo railed against President Biden’s newly announced “America is back” approach to diplomacy — saying the US can’t afford “eight more years of Barack Obama’s foreign policy.”
Pompeo was asked to weigh in on Biden’s foreign policy changes on Fox News.
“Does he mean back to when ISIS controlled a caliphate in Syria that was the size of Britain? I hope not,” Pompeo said Thursday.
He continued, “When he [Biden] says ‘back,’ when America is back, does he mean back to letting China walk all over us, destroying millions of jobs in places like Kansas and South Carolina, that we know so well? I hope that’s not what he means by ‘back.’
“He talked about allies, when he said go ‘back,’ does he mean back to dissing allies and friends like Israel and treating the terrorists in Iran like friends by giving them $150 billion in pallets of cash?”
Pompeo added, “I don’t think the American people can afford to go back to eight more years of Barack Obama’s foreign policy. I hope they’ll move forward with a foreign policy that looks much more like our ‘America first’ foreign policy.”
On Thursday, Biden announced “diplomacy is back at the center” of US foreign policy, declaring that “America is back.” He said he’s ending US support for Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen, while also promising to take a tougher stance on Russia.
Pompeo defended former President Donald Trump from accusations by Biden of not standing up to the Kremlin.
“We worked hard to prevent Russia from interfering in our election,” Pompeo said. “I’m proud of the work that we did. I’m proud of the work we did to push back against Russia.”
Pompeo also defended his own work as the US’ top diplomat, even if it wasn’t always well-received.
“When I was secretary of state, I shot straight, I told it like it was … and there were some cold receptions in Brussels and some of the salons of Europe, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “I’m proud of the work we did. We spoke the truth.”
