Forget the separation of church of state. Earlier today Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested that it is ‘possible’ that President Trump has been ‘raised’ by God to save the Jewish people from Iran.
In an interview in Jerusalem, Pompeo was asked by the Christian Broadcasting Network whether Trump had been raised “to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace?”
“As a Christian, I certainly believe that’s possible,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo added that he is “confident that the Lord is at work here.”
CBN was asking whether Trump is a new Esther, a biblical character who convinced the king of Persia not to destroy the Jews.
The remarks came shortly after Trump announced that the U.S. will recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, overturning longstanding US policy toward the area, which was seized from Syria during the Six-Day War in 1967.
Retired Rear Adm. John Kirby, a former State Department spokesman blasted Pompeo over the remarks.
“Secretary Pompeo’s assertion that President Trump may have been sent by God to save Israel would be laughable on its face if it weren’t yet another indication that our Secretary of State recklessly crosses the line that should exist between church and state,” Kirby said. “The very idea that there is something biblical to the conduct of diplomacy — that foreign policy is some sort of evangelical endeavor and that the American president is the champion of Judeo-Christian values alone — gives comfort to extremists who see the West as crusaders and unease to those who look to the United States as the protector of both religious and civic freedom. What he said is not only embarrassing; it’s dangerous and irresponsible.”
Pompeo is not the first prominent Trump administration official to suggest that God wanted the New York real estate mogul to become president.
In January, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told CBN, “that’s why he’s there.”
In Thursday’s interview, Pompeo did not address accusations that the Trump administration itself has previously demonstrated insensitivity toward anti-Semitism, most notably Trump’s tepid response to the white nationalist marches in Charlottesville, Virginia, that were marked by chants of “Jews will not replace us.”
During his tour of the Middle East, Pompeo has come under fire for only inviting “faith-based” members of the media to cover him.