Former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten as the “most dangerous person in the world” during a recent interview.
Pompeo told Semafor that he believes Weingarten is more dangerous than Chinese President Xi Jinping or North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“I get asked, ‘Who’s the most dangerous person in the world? Is it Chairman Kim, is it Xi Jinping?'” he said, according to an interview transcript published by Semafor. “The most dangerous person in the world is [American Federation of Teachers President] Randi Weingarten. It’s not a close call.”
“If you ask, ‘Who’s the most likely to take this republic down?’ It would be the teacher’s unions, and the filth that they’re teaching our kids, and the fact that they don’t know math and reading or writing,” he elaborated.
Later in the interview, Pompeo referenced ideological school curricula such as the 1619 project, a controversial historical series by The New York Times about the apparent racist origins of the American founding. The project describes its mission as an effort to “reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.”
“The most dangerous person in the world is Randi Weingarten. It’s not a close call.”
Read @daveweigel and @ShelbyTalcott‘s interview with Mike Pompeo on his potential 2024 run and more: https://t.co/NQZ9bKpEj3 pic.twitter.com/rFhHv4ky5W
— Semafor (@semafor) November 21, 2022
Weingarten responded by saying Pompeo was “desperate to be labeled as the extremist in the Republican presidential primary,” Semafor reported. Her comments refer to the possibility of Pompeo launching a 2024 presidential campaign to challenge Donald Trump for the GOP nomination.
Before Trump’s Nov. 15 announcement, Pompeo told radio host Hugh Hewitt that it would not impact his plans, Politico reported. (RELATED: Potential 2024 Challenger Mike Pompeo Says He Hasn’t ‘Shifted’ Away From Trump)
Pompeo was one of many rumored GOP presidential hopefuls to appear at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual meeting, The New York Times reported. In his speech, he called for “real seriousness” to build on the accomplishments of the Trump administration and joked “who knows what nicknames we will have,” in reference to the former president.
“It is simply not enough to own the libs. It is simply not enough to complain. One has to make a case. I think we had too many folks who were not out there actively presenting solutions the American people can count on,” Pompeo added.