Having spent his time during the Trump administration going into crisis zones around the world, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the greatest threat to the United States remains the indoctrination of U.S. children against American exceptionalism.
''There is no threat greater to the United States than that which emanates inside our republic, emanates inside our school system,'' Pompeo told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Friday.
''If we do not teach our children, the next generation, that we are not a racist nation then surely the bad guys will come to be right about an America in decline. It is not true. We will prevent it from being so.''
Pompeo issued a warning about the ''jackbooted thug Xi Jinping'' of China, who he said has spies throughout the U.S.
''Today, they are inside our colleges and universities; they are working on local governments, mayors, governors,'' Pompeo said.
''I wish I could tell you that the China problem is all over there, it was something we could turn away from,'' he continued. ''It was something the bipartisan establishment — Democrat and Republican alike — had believed for decades: 'We sell them a little bit more, and life would be good.'
''I wish it were so. But what happens in Beijing does not stay in Beijing.''
Our country's enemies have been trying to damage the U.S. to gain power and riches, he said. Pompeo lamented the efforts in the U.S. that he says use race to help these enemies in that endeavor.
''Let's be in the fight,'' Pompeo told the crowd. ''Let's never give an inch. Let's never compromise, let's stand on very things that allow you to have all the opportunity that you have had in the world, that have brought you here to stand on this platform and clearly speak to America and say humbly but boldly: 'This is the greatest nation and civilization and it is not going to change on my watch.'''
Pompeo also criticized President Joe Biden and his administration for what he called soft-on-crime, soft-on-Vladimir Putin policies.
''In the last 12 months we've seen it's OK to steal something, as long as it's worth less than $1,000 — a minor incursion, if you will, into Walgreens,'' Pompeo said.
The deadly Afghanistan withdrawal, lack of secure borders, inflation, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine prove Biden's failed leadership after the strength and security of the Trump administration, according to Pompeo.
''We were the barbarians, the rubes, we didn't know what we were doing: I'm pretty confident now,'' Pompeo said. ''I say that not with joy, but sorrow, because America demands good leadership and the world is depending upon it.
''Peace through strength,'' he added. ''It was [former President Ronald] Reagan's model. It was the model that we used for four years in the Trump administration. We told people around the world: 'You cannot tread on us.'''
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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