On the surface, Mike Pompeo doesn't seem that ignorant. He might be as stubborn and twisted as 45, true. But he can read things like you and I can. He knows what the facts are.
Or, maybe, he has different facts at hand. Because he is who he is, Secretary of State, it's a good bet he knows more than he's telling.
About foreign countries, that is. About the election? That's a little tougher to fathom.
So when he said the other day that preparations are being made for a second 45 term, people both close to and far away from him started scratching their heads. Like, on what basis could he make such a claim?
Or is he posturing, knowing that if he says what's been obvious for the last eleven days now, that Joe Biden will be the next president because he's been elected and will be certified by all the states he carried which amount to 306 electoral votes now, he might be fired even at this late date.
How does he think this? Check out Chris Krebs, the Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure at the Department of Homeland Security. If there's anyone who should know about hacking into our election results, he would. If there's anyone who should blow the whistle at election irregularities, he should.
But he hasn't because there hasn't been a problem. Whatever challenges we faced from foreign adversaries, Russia or anybody else, whatever leaking took place, during the 2016 election got sealed up. He said that this election was the "most secure in our history."
That reassurance to the public, I guess, was a bad idea. It meant, of course, that any challenge to the present day election results was not going to get anywhere. Democracy, as far as it went, worked.
That was bad news for 45, who predictably fired Krebs because he didn't hew the line of denial. He wants to do that so bad that now he has hired, or re-hired, Rudy Giuliani (at a requested $20,000 per day) to throw out all of Pennsylvania's votes and invalidate the results there.
If Giuliani succeeds with his wild claims that the votes were "cured (and what the hell does that mean, besides trying to make up a problem that doesn't exist?)," and has the whole bunch thrown out--a demand that is completely absurd, but so is he and the person he works for--then Biden doesn't get twenty electoral votes. Nice try, but Biden would still have 286 electoral votes. I'm sure Giuliani has plans for other states, like maybe Georgia, which is presently undergoing a recount, but he has more than a 13,000-vote deficit to explain there. But if he should get away with nullifying Pennsylvania, he may believe that all bets are then off.
So maybe Pompeo knew about the basis of those suits before he said that, and is somehow confident that they will be won. Or, maybe, he knows where his bread is buttered.
It's been reported here that in the book Border Wars, two New York Times reporters said that Pompeo and then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen flew to Houston late in 2018 to negotiate an arrangement on the border with the incoming Mexican administration of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. 45 wanted to actually keep people seeking American asylum in Mexico as they were awaiting their hearings.
Otherwise, 45 would shut down the border, Nielsen and Pompeo said. Sounds crazy, but we know him. We have to close this deal. (p. 345)
Mexico believed it, but the Pompeo and Nielsen also promised money to deal with the problem. The right-wing commentators went off when they heard it (because they must have genuinely believed that 45 was going to make Mexico pay for a border wall, an absurd claim that has never come close to being realized), and 45 was embarrassed. But they got an arrangement made.
I think Pompeo came close to being fired right then and there. Nielsen was, eventually, but her involvement was more direct; she didn't have the Middle East to divert attention, Jared Kushner notwithstanding. And, of course, they got something accomplished. It was that or a real mess would have ensued.
Pompeo could believe that even now, being fired by 45 would put him in a bad way with fellow Republicans, who he may be trying to impress if he's thinking about running for president in 2024. Better to appear loyal than to put himself in the same wheelbarrow with those who, although they might have taken principled stances, were nonetheless removed. He might think that being ejected by 45 would be the same as being discarded by the Republican Party, without the advantage of perspective. It sure looks like it right now.
Maybe the major operatives in the Republican Party, too, are waiting for their chances to brush 45 off their sleeves (and if so, I want to hear Ted Cruz and Lindsay Graham walk that back). But maybe not. Maybe they're doubling down with support and will listen to him tweet insults and lies for yet another four years. That's scary. It may also be true. Remember, he got 71 million votes, and they're still counting them.
But there will also be plenty of stories about this president's incompetence and meanness that haven't come out yet, despite the plethora of journalism that it has already engendered. I think people are sitting on information that will, with time, become even more explosive. I also think that Pompeo may be one of those who steps forward, but not for a while. He'll let others lead the way first. It would be untoward for him to get out in front of that parade. He'll put his finger into the wind first.
In the meantime, he might as well appear completely loyal so he can get that off his desk and keep doing his job until January 20, when it will end. That way, he won't need to look over his shoulder in case the boss wants some token gesture of loyalty, kind of the way he gathered the Cabinet together early in his term, went around the table, and heard those same token gestures. Deception leads to deception, and at this point, who would be surprised?
There are plenty of ways he can explain himself later and back away from suppositions of blind loyalty, like:
- I had certain information at the time which just didn't pan out;
- Others I respect were claiming the same thing, so they must have thought they knew something; or
- After all, he was still fighting, and I respected that.
See? All plausible talking points if not rock solid. Fused into a campaign, answering the question How in the world could you have supported such a fool? it's easier to move on from it.
The other possibility is that he may be projecting, and anticipating, that 45 will run for president in 2024 and if he does, he'll win again and be 47, not 45. "Getting ready for a second term" might mean that. But that assumes a lot of things, so that isn't likely.
Your guess is as good as mine. The charade continues. 45 keeps looking for a crack in the facade of electoral credibility. The clock ticks. Some kind of spectacular absurdity has to happen.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
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