Donald Trump is running for re-election and polls show he is one of the frontrunners.
Other Republicans are looking to take down Trump.
And this top ally just flipped on Donald Trump and you won’t believe why.
When Donald Trump ran in 2016, he made taking on Communist China one of his centerpiece issues.
Trump blasted career politicians for selling out America and shipping jobs overseas.
He pointed out how the Communist Chinese were granted the most favored nation trade status and allowed to join the World Trade Organization as examples.
When Trump took office, he canceled Barack Obama’s Trans Pacific Partnership agreement, slapped tariffs on goods from China, and renegotiated tough new trade deals with Beijing.
Trump changed America’s posture towards Communist China and the days of accommodationist policies were over.
But Trump’s former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is out with a new book called Don’t Give an Inch.
Pompeo is long thought to be running for President in 2024 and this is the type of book a politician would put out just before announcing a campaign.
In Don’t Give an Inch, Pompeo makes it clear he plans to run against Trump in 2024 by previewing a line of attack in which he will try to claim the former President really wasn’t that tough on Communist China.
Pompeo recounts a conference call in the early stages of the COVID pandemic where he claims Trump scolded him for criticizing Communist China because the United States needed medical equipment from them.
Semafor reports:
According to Pompeo, who listened in to the call, Xi told Trump that his cabinet member was jeopardizing the “phase one” trade deal that the principals had just agreed to. Pompeo believed that Xi was trying to get Trump to fire him — “My Mike, that fucking guy hates you!” the president said after the call — and a few days later, in the Oval Office, Trump told Pompeo that he was “putting us all at risk” by angering Xi, in part because the United States still needed protective health equipment from China.
“Stop, for God’s sake!” said the president.
Pompeo writes that he “honored” Trump’s desire to stop criticizing China, but that he “spoke the truth” about the situation.
“We needed health equipment and were at the CCP’s mercy for it,” Pompeo writes. “I worked for the president, and would bide my time.”
Donald Trump will not be happy with this account.
And even the left-wing website Semafor admitted Pompeo exaggerated the details.
“A former Trump official familiar with the situation suggested Pompeo’s account may be somewhat exaggerated. They said that the President listened to Pompeo’s views on China, and moved in his direction during the pandemic, but that it was a stretch to say that Xi was trying to get him fired,” Semafor reported.
Donald Trump will face a far different GOP environment in 2024 than he did in 2016 or 2020.
Establishment-oriented rivals view Trump as the frontrunner they need to take out.
And even former officials who worked for Trump are planning to run against him and attack the record of the administration they served in under him.
Renewed Right will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.