Yesterday, outgoing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took to his government Twitter account to deliver a blistering attack on ‘wokeness’, multiculturalism and moral righteousness.
“Woke–ism, multiculturalism, all the -isms”, he tweeted, “they’re not who America is. They distort our glorious founding and what this country is all about. Our enemies stoke these divisions because they know they make us weaker.”
Pompeo’s tweet was a quote from a speech made last week to Voice of America, the government-funded international broadcaster, in which he slammed tech giants for contributing to the climate of censorship.
“Censorship, wokeness, political correctness it all points in one direction,” he said, “authoritarianism, cloaked as moral righteousness”.
“It’s similar to what we’re seeing at Twitter, and Facebook, and Apple, and on too many university campuses. This is not who we are, as Americans. It’s not what Voice of America should be. It’s time to put woke-ism to sleep.”
During his final days in office, Pompeo has put through increasingly hawkish policies – loosening restrictions on US’s relationship with Taiwan, branding Cuba and Yemen’s Houthi rebels as terrorists and alleging an alliance between Iran and Al-Qaeda.
And yesterday, less than 24 hours before his departure from the State Department, he declared that “the [People’s Republic of China] PRC, under the direction and control of the [Chinese Communist Party] CPP committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs… in Xinjiang”.
Following the Capitol riots, Pompeo didn’t distance himself from Trump, even as many of his cabinet colleagues resigned from office. In an interview with Hugh Hewitt, he declared the Capitol rioters as “criminals” that “ought to be treated as such”.
“But history will reflect on the good work that this president and our administration has done,’ he said.
Pompeo is tipped to be angling for a run at the Presidency in 2024.
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