Mike Pompeo is a West Point graduate who served in the U.S. Army as a cavalry officer patrolling the Iron Curtain before the fall of the Berlin Wall. He is a Harvard Law graduate, a former Congressman representing the state of Kansas, and most recently served as CIA Director. He is a man who is known for his intellect, leadership, and character. None of this outstanding experience was addressed by Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-NJ) inflammatory line of questioning during Pompeo’s confirmation hearing. Instead, he chose to question Pompeo’s faith.
Is this the new standard for nominees going forward?
Ironic that Pompeo, who international religious freedom organizations and advocates call “a strong nominee who will make international religious freedom a foreign policy priority,” should have to defend his own religious convictions to the U.S. Senate. During the hearing, Sen. Booker put Pompeo’s faith to the test, repeatedly asking him the very inappropriate question: “Do you believe that gay sex is a perversion?”
Pompeo is a Christian and has, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, supported marriage as the union between one man and one woman. But he has never been accused of discrimination in any way.In fact, he pledged in his Senate hearing to treat everyone equally with the same set of rights, saying, “My respect for every individual, regardless of sexual orientation, is the same.”
Pompeo’s pledge and record as a respected Army veteran, CIA Director, businessman, and U.S. Congressman was not enough for Sen. Booker, who continued to press Pompeo to answer whether or not he considered “gay sex” a “perversion.” And, once again an unconstitutional religious litmus test was used as a pre-requisite to serve in office — just like what happened in the confirmation hearings of Russell Vought for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget and Amy Coney Barrett as Trump’s judicial nominee.
The behavior of Sen. Booker is surprising, unless you understand two basic things about today’s extreme liberal agenda: one, religious freedom is a fine idea, unless it contradicts liberal ideology; two, they have spent the past nine years and billions of U.S.-taxpayer dollars “Making the Advancement of LGBT Rights a Foreign Policy Priority” through the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Policies and programs to protect LGBT persons from violence, killing, wrongful discrimination, and false imprisonment are indeed needful and right. However, the policies and programs promoted through these departments go far beyond protecting human rights to promoting LGBT ideology into foreign countries, encouraging the exploration of gender and sexual identity, and promoting multiple identities/orientations as a “progressive” value in developing countries, particularly within schools to students and teachers.
Now, with the very real possibility that Pompeo will direct U.S. foreign policy, liberals may see this agenda in danger of crumbling.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate, urging swift confirmation of Pompeo as U.S. Secretary of State. We believe Mike Pompeo is a vastly experienced and fearless leader who will support President Trump’s agenda abroad to fight for life and family values, international religious freedom, and bring pragmatic, yet firm and decisive leadership to U.S foreign relations.
We continue to stand by our support. We urge Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to do everything in his power to assure that Pompeo’s confirmation vote is scheduled in a timely manner and remind our Senate that it is obligated to abide by the U.S. Constitution, Article VI, which states that “… no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or Public Trust under the United States.”
Mike Pompeo is a patriot who has served his country well. The idea that he will treat any individual differently based on their belief system is baseless and unfounded. Now, more than ever, America needs him in this role.