Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that President Joe Biden could take three immediate steps that would turn the United States’ energy policy around and also impact the markets “in a good way.”
Pompeo joined Fox News host Martha MacCallum on Tuesday’s broadcast of “The Story,” and he argued that Biden could put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin — who, according to a New York Times op-ed, appears to be attempting to usurp American influence with European allies.
“I want to read for you a quote from a New York Times opinion piece by Fiona Hill. It says that ‘Putin wants to evict the United States from Europe,'” MacCallum said. “Good-bye America, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. What do you think, sir?”
“Martha, thanks for having me on. … It’s worth noting the U.S. stock market has taken a big hit in that time period as well. American leadership matters. That’s why President Trump and I had a model for deterrence to prevent precisely these kinds of moments. You don’t want to be putting your troops on alert and threatening once the adversary already has his front foot forward,” Pompeo replied.
He went on to say that if Biden had handled the withdrawal from Afghanistan differently — or had responded differently to the Russian ransomware attack that shut down the Colonial Pipeline — America’s credibility might not have taken such a hit in the global arena.
“America’s credibility in the world matters, whether it was in the debacle in our departure from Afghanistan, or it was President Putin rolling President Biden at the summit after Russians had attacked the Colonial Pipeline and shut it down, when we did nothing. Weakness begets confrontation,” Pompeo continued. “And I’m afraid that’s what Vladimir Putin has seen, I think he thinks he’s still seeing it. I hope this administration will begin to do the things one does to make sure that your friends and allies know that you’ll be with them. There is no one asking for American troops in Ukraine. I haven’t heard anybody make that demand. What they’re asking for is for the United States to live up to its commitments. This matters to the people in Nevada, Kansas, Nebraska, all across America.”
“We’ll see instability in Europe drive inflation further upward,” Pompeo added. “One last thought: When you take your eye off the ball in foreign policy, when you put Secretary Kerry and climate change at the top of your foreign policy agenda, I think you see the hard power actors like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin say, ‘Well, that’s all fantastic. You all want to reduce carbon footprint as a matter of national security. We have a different vision for how to execute and deliver on our objectives and use our power.”
MacCallum pointed back to Biden’s claim that “America is back, the Trans-Atlantic alliance is back” — and asked Pompeo whether that was really true.
“It certainly exists, but for someone to suggest from the State Department podium that there are not cracks and different views, it’s not real, it’s fantasy,” Pompeo replied.
“The Germans have been incredibly feckless here. We need an ambassador there that is prepared to defend America’s interest and convince the German government to do the right thing not only for Ukraine and Europe but for Germany as well. They’ll suffer under this threat for decades to come. When you shut down your energy systems and say we’re going to rely on Russia, I’m sure that Vladimir Putin and his successor too, will see this risk. It’s outrageous for the Germans to not let equipment move across the country. The United States needs to demonstrate its leadership in the way that President Biden said he would.”
Pompeo noted that just such a situation was what former President Donald Trump’s administration had been preparing for when they called for more resources to be put into NATO.
MacCallum posed one last question, asking, “What difference would it make if the president said, you know what, we’re going to lease fracking lands because of this situation going with Russia. We’re going to open up the Keystone Pipeline for now because we need to do that. What would the impact be?”
“It would be enormous on global energy prices,” Pompeo’s response was immediate. “The world energy markets would respond in a good way. It would be a good thing, it would put pressure on the Germans as well. It would be a good. If he would add to that, Martha, a willingness to say we’re not going to let the Nord Stream 2 pipeline be built, you would have a trifecta with enormous import.”
“You’d see an overnight impact on the markets and geopolitically as well down the road,” MacCallum agreed.