Multiple sources close to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have told reporters at Time magazine that Pompeo is going to leave the Trump administration soon to run for Senate in Kansas.
Pompeo denies it, but politicos argue the timing makes sense.
Per Hot Air:
Until recently Pompeo was the golden boy among top Trump advisors, the one Republican in government during the pre-Trump era who seemed to have a rapport with the president. He went from Congress to head of the CIA to Secretary of State in the span of 15 months because Trump took a shine to him. He seemed well positioned to hold the job as long as he wanted, or maybe to lateral to some other prominent office (Secretary of Defense?) once a vacancy opened up. Even if he wanted to return to electoral politics, he had the most valuable commodity a red-state Republican could hope for — a glowing recommendation from Donald Trump.
The political world was his oyster. Stay in the cabinet and maybe start thinking about a presidential run in 2024, or run for the Senate seat in Kansas that Pat Roberts is vacating and win it in a walkover? Pompeo’s just 55, remember. He could hold that seat for a dozen years without ever worrying about a tough race and then run for president still as a youngish man.
But politics can change quickly, even though the next election cycle can sometimes feel like its eons away.
Trump’s good favor is no longer assured, thanks to the fact that diplomats like Bill Taylor and Marie Yovanovitch keep showing up before Schiff’s committee to make Trump’s life difficult. What he wants Pompeo to do about that, I don’t know, but Pompeo’s in charge and Trump seems to view his cabinet as exalted “fixers” for him a la Michael Cohen (which is why he’s never forgiven Jeff Sessions for failing to derail the Russiagate probe). Pompeo hasn’t fixed this impeachment problem for him, has he? The president expressed his displeasure about it both directly and indirectly within the past few weeks:
“Here’s the problem: He’s a never Trumper, and his lawyer is,” the president told reporters about [Bill] Taylor [on Oct. 25]. “The other problem is — hey, everyone makes mistakes — Mike Pompeo. Everybody makes mistakes.”
Pompeo did pluck Bill Taylor out of retirement to lead the U.S. embassy in Ukraine, which some speculate could eventually, albeit inadvertently, poison his relationship with Trump.
Meanwhile, Pompeo still has the president’s backing as well as the Koch Brothers, who hail from Kansas.
What do you think he will do?
AAN Staff
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