Former CIA Chief Mike Pompeo Calls Teachers Union Leader "Most Dangerous Person in the World"
By: Prem Thakker (The New Republic)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Former CIA Chief Mike Pompeo Calls Teachers Union Leader "Most Dangerous Person in the World"
One person has pushed for drone strikes in Afghanistan. The other wants teachers to be treated fairly.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Former Secretary of State and CIA Director Mike Pompeo claims the president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union, Randi Weingarten, is the "most dangerous person in the world."
"I tell the story often — I get asked 'Who's the most dangerous person in the world? Is it Chairman Kim, is it Xi Jinping?' The most dangerous person in the world is Randi Weingarten," Pompeo, who pushed for covert drone strikes in Afghanistan, said in an interview with Semafor published Monday.
"It's not a close call. If you ask, 'Who's the most likely to take this republic down?' It would be the teacher's unions, and the filth that they're teaching our kids, and the fact that they don't know math and reading or writing," the former top U.S. diplomat added.
Pompeo, who in 2017 did not disclose that his business imported oilfield equipment from a Chinese government-owned company, tied his supposed concern for kids with an angst for China.
"If our kids don't grow up understanding America is an exceptional nation, we're done. If they think it's an oppressor class and an oppressed class, if they think the 1619 Project, and we were founded on a racist idea — if those are the things people entered the seventh grade deeply embedded in their understanding of America, it's difficult to understand how Xi Jinping's claim that America is in decline won't prove true," Pompeo said.
"...We should ban every element of Chinese technology that sits inside our ecosystem," Pompeo said later. "The Chinese Communist Party is coming for your kids."
Weingarten responded to the interview on Twitter, focusing less on Pompeo's attacks and more on an affirmative vision of AFT's efforts:
So Mike, let me make it easy for you. We fight for freedom, democracy, and an economy that works for all. We fight for what kids & communities need. Strong public schools that are safe and welcoming, where kids learn how to think & work with others. That's the American Dream!
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) November 22, 2022
And we fight against this kind of rhetoric and hate. Maybe spend a minute in one of the classrooms with my members and their students and you will get a real lesson in the promise and potential of America
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) November 22, 2022
If this is a preview of Pompeo's 2024 run for president, his case is already falling flat.
Why Did Pompeo Say That? Republicans Don't Want to Reform Public Education. They Want to End It. Most Recent PostTori Otten/ November 22, 2022/3:34 p.m. ET
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I hope this dickhead uses this as his major campaign theme because he is going down in flames if he does.
Pompeo is a christian dominionist. He is also pro Putin and pro Saudi. His lifeblood is oil. His soul is one of those that demanded Pilate execute Jesus. He has always been a traitor.
It's amusing how batshit crazy conspiracies are SOP on the left.
Prove me wrong.
Prove yourself right--you made the claims.
Good luck with that..
Wasn't that part of God's plan?
Par for the course when one is getting ready to run for president. The biggest threat and enemy is our school system, not China, NK or Russia but the head of the teachers union.
What a dip shit.
Pompeo's frame of mind is pretty disturbing, but I dont see him becoming the GOP nominee. He's a more hardline DeSantis.
Pompeo has always been disturbing. Opus Dei adherent.
What a perfect mishmash of bullshit. There's nothing like the left parroting buzz words of bigotry that they don't understand.
Pompeo is an evangelical Christian. Opus Dei is an order of the the Catholic Church. They are not remotely compatible.
You have much to learn about the rise of religion in American politics. Start with the Supreme Court.
Well, before you start lecturing anyone about religion you should learn that Catholicism and Protestantism are not interchangeable terms. There's no surer way of demonstrating you have no idea what you are talking about than claiming a Protestant is a member of Opus Dei.
Exactly, a very recent phenomenon.
You may have been disturbed for some time but not because Pompeo was part of Opus Dei. Maybe the Italian name created the false assumption for you.
I am aware of what religion Pompeo is. But he supports what I said he does. Look at the Supreme Court.
Lol Then you have no idea what you are talking about. Evangelical Christians aren't Opus Dei adherents. This is day one stuff.
It's like a calling a Muslim an orthodox Jew.
Never said anything you said I said.
I am maintaining that there is a movement in America by the religious right to bring theocratic autocracy to our shores. Christian theocratic autocracy.
"Pompeo has always been disturbing. Opus Dei adherent."
He is. Look at the courts.