Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the CPAC 2023 conference on Friday that despite threats from the likes of Communist China, Russia, and North Korea, the United States is facing an inside threat because respect for individual freedom has been lost.
"The future of our American miracle is on the line in a way that I have not seen since, goodness gracious, since maybe I was in high school," Pompeo, 59, said at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. "Our greatest threats are here. They're from within [and] it's the challenge we face today."
"We're losing respect for individual freedom. A unified faith in the American purpose and a shared commitment to pass this miracle on to our children is at risk."
Pompeo, who is expected to challenge his former boss, Donald Trump, for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said the 2022 midterm elections were a wake-up call for Republicans. After two years of Joe Biden's presidency, he said "we should have won big."
He said he was happy Republicans won control of the House, but overall, the results in 2022 and in the past eight presidential elections, where Democrats won the popular vote seven times, showed Americans have lost trust in conservative ideas.
"The losses are a symptom of something much bigger," Pompeo said. "I think it's a crisis in conservatism. We've lost confidence that we are right. It's not just a crisis of competence, it's one of character, as well. We need to get everyone who understands America and our Judeo-Christian founding back in this movement in the same way we know can be done.
"A basic return to the central ideas. Not only in the way we talk about it, but the way we act, our deeds, every one of us. I'm convinced we're unstoppable when we are fully committed to freedom, equality, the basic things we all know and unwavering faith in our founding principles."
Pompeo took a couple of veiled swipes at Trump, saying "we can't become the left following celebrity leaders with their own brand of identity politics, those with fragile egos who refused to acknowledge reality," and noted the Trump administration added $8 trillion in new debt.
But Pompeo stuck mostly to the theme of reviving conservatism. He said Republicans must explain to American voters how conservatives are different from liberals to earn back their trust.
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