Pompeo: Biden Emboldened Radical Islam, Trump Must Secure America Once Again

The heinous acts of terror in New Orleans early on New Year’s Day, followed just hours later by the pro-Hamas march in New York City, underscored the Biden Administration’s staggering failure to keep America safe amid the revitalized threat of radical Islamic terror.  Because of this failure, the American people are now at greater risk.  It will be up to the incoming Trump Administration to fix this mess and keep Americans safe.

In January 2017, when we in the Trump Administration took office, the Islamic State (ISIS) controlled a massive piece of Syria and was expanding its vision of radical Islamism on a global scale.  It had even beheaded two Americans during the Obama-Biden Administration.  We took this threat seriously and set to work dismantling the caliphate ISIS had built across Syria and Iraq.  When we left office, the ISIS caliphate was no more, and the threat of radical Islamic terror within our homeland was greatly reduced.  

Unfortunately, over the past four years, we have witnessed a complete abdication of this responsibility by the White House that has resulted in a dangerous resurgence of this threat.  Biden’s disastrous and shameful withdrawal from Afghanistan empowered radical jihadist organizations like al-Qa eda and ISIS, which raised the risk of terror within our borders.  Then, instead of combating this reinvigorated threat at home and abroad, Biden downplayed it, choosing instead to fight conjured political threats that served his party’s interests, not the nation’s.  For four years, his Administration has called “far right” groups, and even supporters of President Trump, the greatest threat to American democracy.  We’ve watched the FBI go after Catholics and parents attending school board meetings – all while the Administration stood silent as Hamas and ISIS flags were being displayed on city streets and university campuses following the terrible Oct. 7 attacks. 

As if to underline this massive failure, hundreds of demonstrators occupied Times Square in New York City on New Year’s Day, mere hours after the terror attack in New Orleans.  They called for an “intifada revolution,” the destruction of Israel, and support for the terrorist organization Hamas.  It should have been shocking for America to see, but sadly, it no longer is.  Under the Biden Administration’s leadership, such grotesque demonstrations have become the new normal in America.  This must change.

The incoming Trump Administration must make combating antisemitism and demolishing terror networks within our borders a priority. The Biden Administration failed to address rising antisemitism and radical Islamism in America during its tenure, a fact that was most clear in the wake of the horrific October 7 attacks on Israel.  College campuses became a focal point for spreading radical Islamist goals, while threats to our homeland metastasized further – and the Biden Administration did nothing to stop it.  

In addition to being a complete security failure, the threat posed by radical Islamism and rising antisemitism is also the result of an education system that has misled generations of Americans about the goodness of our country.  When the Ayatollah himself – whose regime is responsible for unspeakable crimes against humanity and regularly preaches that America is “the Great Satan” – proclaims that America’s students are on the “right side of history,” we should all be concerned about what our students are being taught to think and told to do.  The incoming Trump Administration must address the rot within our institutions of higher education before it is too late.

Finally, President Trump must once again take the fight to radical Islamic organizations abroad.  After four years of the Biden Administration, groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS are making a forceful comeback, especially in the wake of Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.  As these groups expand and prosper overseas, so too does their capability to build effective networks inside America that threaten our people.  We simply cannot sit on our hands and expect this threat will never again come home to hurt the American people. We need to go on offense and ensure that groups like ISIS do not have the capacity to threaten the United States or further radicalize our citizens.  We did this effectively and efficiently in the Trump Administration for four years, and I am confident President Trump can deliver for the American people again.