Mike Pompeo Bows Out of the 2024 Race – But He Could Still Hurt Donald Trump: One less Republican will be running in 2024 for his party’s presidential nomination.
Mike Pompeo ― the former secretary of State, CIA director, and congressman ― likely found he did not have a realistic path to win. His popularity among GOP primary voters hovered around 1%.
Mike Pompeo Makes It Offical
“I have made a decision,” Pompeo said on Fox News on Friday. “[We] have prayerfully come to the conclusion we are not going to join the race in 2024. While we care deeply about America and the issues I’ve been talking about for the past year-and-half – and frankly for decades – matter an awful lot, this isn’t our moment.”
He told Fox News’ Brent Baier that fiscal responsibility and a strong military remain issues he cares about deeply, but he realized he was not the man to deliver at this point in history.
“These are things that I care about. We were thinking about, can we impact them? Is this the right time for us to go seek the presidency, to go try and work on this? And we just simply came to the conclusion this wasn’t this wasn’t the moment for us,” Pompeo said.
This leaves one less competitor.
Pompeo Seemed Ready
He landed a jab on former President Donald Trump recently during an appearance on “Hannity,” suggesting that Americans are “thirsting for people making arguments, not just tweets.”
Only Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has a shot at making inroads against Trump. Pompeo could help DeSantis highlighting Trump’s personal shortcomings and failures in the White House as a surrogate for his campaign.
He highlighted his disdain at Trump administration’s addition of $6 trillion to the national debt in four years during a March interview with Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday.
Pompeo slammed Trump saying, “I think … any conservative president will do better than not only we did during the four years of the Trump administration, Barack Obama, George Bush. The list is long, Shannon.
Pompeo continued: “[We’re] $6 trillion more in debt,” Pompeo observed. “That’s never the right direction for the country, Shannon.”
Pompeo Could Still Hurt Donald Trump
He had an insider’s view of Donald Trump’s strengths and weaknesses, and knowing Trump’s weaknesses, he could help someone like DeSantis to exploit them.
Trump is running as someone who wants to finish the job of “draining the swamp” of the so-called “Deep State.” Pompeo can help highlight Trump’s failure to hire the right people in that regard, having been his CIA director and secretary of State.
DeSantis has already said he would have fired Anthony Fauci, and Pompeo has been just as critical of Fauci.
“We shut our classrooms down when we knew the science didn’t support that. In the end, you make policy decisions like mandates, like distancing makes them based on science, not politics. And that was the mistake that Fauci made,” Pompeo told John Stossel in February. “The vaccine mandates had the net effect of actually understanding this risk … You shouldn’t have gaslighted the American people like Fauci did.”
Pompeo indicated he would support whichever candidate ends up with the nomination.
“I think they’re looking for someone who can clearly articulate their vision for what parents ought to be doing to help their kids be successful in schools and how we take back crime from our streets and cities,” Pompeo said. “I don’t know if that will end up being President Trump that the American people choose or if that is who our party will choose to be its nominee. But I’m hopeful that it will be those debates about real arguments, things that really matter.
He continued: “And if that happens, America will be in a pretty damn good place.”
In the end, Pompeo could be a strong potential running mate due to his pugilistic debating style and his deep resume and understanding of the risks facing the U.S. for either DeSantis or Trump.
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