WASHINGTON — As secretary of state during the Trump administration, Mike Pompeo had little regard for his job’s genteel diplomatic protocols, routinely throwing verbal punches against foreign governments, political opponents and the mainstream media. Out of office for more than two months, Mr. Pompeo has not stopped punching. And he is ignoring, much as he did in office, the custom that current and former secretaries of state avoid the appearance of political partisanship. In back-to-back appearances in Iowa and during an interview in New Hampshire over the past week, Mr. Pompeo questioned the Biden administration’s resolve toward China. “What’s great about not being the secretary of state anymore is I can say things that when I was a diplomat I couldn’t say,” Mr. Pompeo said the next morning, to a small crowd at the Westside Conservative Club near Des Moines.

Source: New York Times March 30, 2021 00:00 UTC