DES MOINES, Iowa — Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Breitbart News exclusively that he and former President Donald Trump would have been much more forceful and aggressive with the Communist regime in Cuba in response to protests there as people rise up against the oppressive government, pushing for more freedom.
“There would have been three things that would have been different at the outset, probably a longer list,” Pompeo said when asked how he and Trump would have handled things differently from Biden. “First, it would have taken all of three seconds—and I’m not even sure my team would have had to get my approval—to put out a statement that ‘We support the people of Cuba and their freedom. Communism has destroyed their lives and they want out from that yolk—God bless you and please make sure you’re doing everything you can to deliver an outcome, change the regime so you can live out that freedom.’ Literally, my team would have known it was on our hearts and who we were—it wouldn’t have taken us 48 seconds let alone 48 hours to do that. Second, we put enormous pressure on the Cuban regime and I think that emboldened the Cuban people. The Cuban regime is at its weakest point in history, giving the chance for the Cuban people to rise up. We would have enforced that with everything we did in the aftermath of these uprisings. Finally, there were some real tactical things we would have begun to do. When you have one element within the government that has all the guns, it’s very hard for these protesters—they put their lives at risk. We would have made sure at the very least they had the ability to communicate with each other all across that island. It’s only 90 miles away. The ability for them to communicate is invaluable. They can talk about where the protests are, they can talk about where the Cuban government is, and then finally we would have warned the Russians too: ‘Don’t you dare step in here, don’t you dare come 90 miles from our shore and support this Cuban regime.’ We would have drawn a big line there and given the Cuban people the courage there to continue their protests and demand their freedom.”
Pompeo also noted that unlike under Democrat John F. Kennedy’s presidency, which saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, Democrats nowadays under Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration and former Democrat President Barack Obama’s administration sought to appease the Communist regime 90 miles south of Miami.
“It shifted,” Pompeo said when asked what changed among Democrats. “President Obama wanted to go to a baseball game there and, I don’t know, look cool in the stands and frankly provide money that tamped down the very exercise of these Cuban people’s freedom.”
Biden did eventually—more than a week later—issue sanctions against some Cuban officials. And his White House did eventually acknowledge the woes of Communism. But the hesitancy on display from Democrats unwilling to challenge the ideology that also fuels their socialist left flank is something Pompeo zoned in on in this exclusive interview with Breitbart News backstage last week at the Family Leadership Summit here in downtown Des Moines. An event that also featured former Vice President Mike Pence and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem this year, the Family Leadership Summit served as a springboard for Trump’s nascent presidential campaign in 2015—his appearance there helped catapult him to the front of the 2016 GOP presidential pack, and he eventually won the GOP nomination and the presidency a year and a half later. The interview with Pompeo aired on Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM 125 the Patriot Channel this weekend.
Asked if he is considering a presidential campaign of his own in 2024—Pompeo is widely regarded as a potential successor to Trump—the former president’s top diplomat said he is focused squarely on the midterm elections for now and working to help Republicans up and down the ballot nationwide through his group CAVPAC—the acronym stands for Championing American Values (CAV) PAC.
“I’m here in Iowa to help candidates be successful when going into 2022,” Pompeo said. “That’s the mission set. It’s what CAVPAC is aimed at. We’ve lived the CAVPAC dream these last six months, and that is championing American values and riding to the sound of the guns. When 2022 is over, then we’ll go figure out what’s next. I know I’ll stay in the fight—whether that fight turns out to be running for office or doing something else, these ideas—these conservative ideas—matter to me and I’m going to go try to have an impact and make a difference.”
Pompeo gave a series of speeches and took questions from Iowans at events earlier in the day last Friday in both northern Des Moines in the Ankeny neighborhood and up in Ames, Iowa, during which a common question was what represents the biggest threat to the United States—foreign adversaries or domestic subversion? Pompeo said, while he regularly fights back against the former, the latter could undo the country from within.
Continue reading: Breitbart.com
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