While former President Donald Trump has not written a memoir about his four unforgettable years in the White House, many former staff members have.
Rarely do the people who served in Trump’s administration paint him positively. The latest book comes from Mike Pompeo, who was once a fierce critic of Donald Trump who eventually converted into a die-hard supporter after the 2016 presidential election.
Pompeo worked under Donald Trump for four years. The businessman was first employed as Trump’s director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018.
He then served as the 70th United States secretary of state from 2018 to 2021. Pompeo is the first person to have held both of those positions.
In his new book entitled Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love, Mike Pompeo spoke about an absurd proposal that Donald Trump made to him while he was part of the administration.
The politician and diplomat revealed that Trump wanted him to handle two posts simultaneously. According to Mike Pompeo, Trump took the “nutty” decision in the summer of 2020 in the middle of two major crises.
The country was dealing with the health crisis caused by COVID-19 and the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, which included hundreds of protests demanding justice and racial equality.
Trump revealed that he was set to fire two top administration members, then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and floated the idea that Pompeo pulled double duties.
Pompeo revealed in the book Trump told Meadows that Esper was “not going to make it for much longer.” Esper was fired in November 2020.
Trump told Meadows that Pompeo should wear a “dual hat” in the administration and “take on leading the department of defense as an additional duty.”
Pompeo said he declined the proposition and explained to Meadows that it was “a nutty idea” because it would not be possible to “command defense at the same time.”
Trump would not let go of the idea, and he later requested that Pompeo followed in the footsteps of Henry Kissinger.
The iconic German-born American diplomat made history by serving as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford in the 1970s.
Pompeo explained in the memoir: “President Trump pitched the idea to me. I think he was half-kidding.”
He is no longer an ally of Trump. The diplomat is planning to throw his hat in the ring for the 2024 presidential election and will therefore face a brutal match-up against Trump, who has already announced his candidacy.
Seven years ago, Pompeo did not stand a chance against the formidable Teflon Don(ald) Trump, who destroyed all of the opponents during the bloodbaths that took place during the Republican primary.
However, in 2023, the GOP heads, and some conservative voters have indicated that they view Trump as the past and want someone like Ron DeSantis or even Pompeo.
