By backing Trump’s refusal to accept US election results, Pompeo dilutes his criticism of China

Name: Pompeo says there will be ‘a smooth transition to a second Trump administration’
Uploaded: 2021-01-04T17:00:11.000Z
Duration: 2 min 21 s
Description: Pompeo says there will be ‘a smooth transition to a second Trump administration’

The US secretary of state’s indignation about the anti-democratic machinations of the Chinese government is playing out as many members of his party pledged to reject the result that has been certified by all 50 states

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo looks on as US President Donald Trump calls on him to speak during a presidential memorandum signing in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington in February 2019. Photo: Reuters

Robert Delaney

Published: 1:00am, 5 Jan 2021Updated: 2:37am, 5 Jan 2021

The sparkling wine was just starting to chill on New Year’s Eve when we received 2020’s final jab against China by the Trump administration.

With extreme diplomatic eloquence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assailed Chinese authorities for the way they doled out justice to the “Hong Kong 12” and called the city’s government officials “lackeys” for their collusion in the matter.

It was strange to think about the US’ top diplomat ordering up an announcement to be delivered on what was for all intents and purposes a public holiday, even if not officially, particularly one that most couldn’t wait to celebrate to mark the end of such a traumatic year.

It wasn’t as if we weren’t aware of Pompeo’s contempt for the Communist Party and the Hong Kong officials who put up no resistance to any measure that Beijing promulgates to undermine opposition activists and lawmakers.

This hatred is so thoroughly blinding that Pompeo can’t see the contradiction between his position on Hong Kong democracy and the fact that he has sided with his boss by refusing to recognise the outcome of his own country’s democratic election. He justified his comments about a “smooth transition to a second Trump administration” by pointing out that no one could claim Trump lost until all of the legal challenges against the result had been adjudicated.

02:21

Pompeo says there will be ‘a smooth transition to a second Trump administration’

Fair enough, except that the US judiciary all the way up to the Supreme Court, whose bench includes three Trump appointees, have struck down or declined to hear some 60 cases for lack of jurisdiction or any shred of credible evidence.