Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State
Via Teleconference
QUESTION: Joining me now, a first class father, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Welcome to First Class Fatherhood.
SECRETARY POMPEO: Alec, it’s great to be with you today.
QUESTION: Yeah. And thank you for your service. This is a big honor for me. I’m very happy to have you here on board today.
SECRETARY POMPEO: It’s great to be with you.
QUESTION: All right. Well, your son, Nick, recently received his MBA from Cornell University. Walk me through your feelings about that as a father.
SECRETARY POMPEO: You’re always pretty proud. He did it while he was holding down a full-time job and had to work really hard to do it in the evenings and on weekends. It was his decision. This is – it’s a young man who, when he was younger, school wasn’t his first priority. Always – he did great, but he didn’t love it, and he made the decision he wanted to go back and further his education so that he could have the opportunity to take care of his family when that time comes too. I was really proud of what he pulled off.
QUESTION: Yeah, very cool. I know it had to be difficult for him as well as all the other college students having to go through it with the coronavirus. Did that impact Nick during the end of his college semester year and as you guys kind of handled the whole coronavirus lockdown??
SECRETARY POMPEO: It did impact the tail end of his time. His last semester they had a trip that the class was going to take overseas, and then they ended up having most of the classes at the end of the time be via video conference. So it certainly had an impact on them, but he was able to complete it. They completed it in a timely fashion, and it was good news, good for the Pompeo family. We were very happy, mom and I both.
QUESTION: Yeah, good stuff. And having the position here as Secretary of State, what are some of the challenges of being Secretary of State while being a father and a family man?
SECRETARY POMPEO: Just like anybody who is listening to the show today, when you have a job that takes a lot of your time – it’s not just secretaries of state or senior leaders; a lot of people have long hours that they put in – it means you have to try and get it right and make sure that you’re focused, especially at really important moments in your kids’ lives, that you’re taking care of that thing that is most important, your obligation to raise and inculcate the values in your children for the next generation.
Nick’s mom and I have tried to do that. It’s certainly been even more difficult as I travel a lot as Secretary of State. But Nick’s older now, he doesn’t live at home anymore, and so we communicate by phone and by text and try and stay in touch every place that I go.
QUESTION: Yeah, well said. And obviously you’re an Army guy yourself. You’re a very well-disciplined individual. But what type of disciplinarian were you as a father when Nick was growing up, and is it different than the discipline style that you grew up with?
SECRETARY POMPEO: Oh, goodness. Maybe Nick is the best person to answer that. Look, we tried to surround him with all the family, the people who shared our values. We raised him to be a person of faith as well. When it comes to discipline, I would remind Nick all the time when something wouldn’t quite go right, I would ask him the simple question, “How did you see this ending?” and to sort of walk through, like, what were you thinking, and what was the purpose and why did you head down that path that might not have been right, to force him to sort of reflect on what he’d done.
And he always – he always took that on board. He understood precisely what I was saying. We tried to coach him and ensure that he understood that there were boundaries and things that we had expectations that he would do not only for himself and for our family but for those around us, and he always lived up to that. We’re proud of the young man that he has become.
QUESTION: Yeah, that’s awesome. And you know what? Right now, Secretary Pompeo, looking around at what’s taking place across the country, I believe we’re seeing the results of the family unit being decimated, and we have an overwhelming number of kids that are growing up without a father or a father figure in the home, and you combine that with the fact that God has been removed from so much of our society. I think that if we just strengthened our family units and brought God back into focus, most of the problems that we have would start to go away. Do you agree with that, and how could we get there?
SECRETARY POMPEO: It is absolutely the case that the family is the central unit of successful civilizations. We’ve seen that through time immemorial. And for someone who is not only the Secretary of State but a Christian, I believe that our faith put being back – being put back in those places that are important, where they shape a society – our founders knew this too. They knew that our rights were God given; they weren’t granted to us by government. If we put that faith back in the important places – we did this for our son, right? He went to church. He was part of a men’s discipleship group.
We always reminded, too, when Susan and I taught 5th grade Sunday school, that we were doing our part to try to help those families be successful at raising their children as well. If we all do that, if we get fathers back home and get family units reunited and people find their place and find their faith, I do think that many of the challenges that not only America but the world faces would be reduced.
QUESTION: Yeah, well said. And obviously now you – see, I have four children myself. My oldest is 14. He’s just going to hit high school in September. You’ve been through some of these growth things, these entertaining or fun things to do with kids. What kind of advice or how did you handle when Nick hit that dating scene? How did you kind of handle that?
SECRETARY POMPEO: (Laughter.) Mom and I tried to coach him to make good decisions. We put some limitations on it too, the things that – the places he could go and how often and how frequently. We made sure that we were part of that to the extent we could be. We also reminded him that this was a transition and that he had an obligation to treat everyone with whom he encountered, including the young women that he was dating – to treat them with dignity and respect and to treat them appropriately as well. Those messages I think resonated very much with Nick. And then we reminded him too to cherish every minute as you mature and as you grow up, and as you look for that person that you will partner with in your life, to make sure that you’re doing it in the right way and you’re finding a set of shared values of which you can build your family unit.
QUESTION: Yeah, and I’ll bet some of these foreign policy skills are going to come in handy when it’s time to deal with the in-laws.
SECRETARY POMPEO: (Laughter.) Yeah, I imagine that’s right.
QUESTION: Does Nick have interest himself in entering the political arena?
SECRETARY POMPEO: It’s hard to know. In some sense he’s already in it. We didn’t grow up as a – he didn’t grow up as a child who was involved in that. I didn’t enter politics myself until Nick was already just about out of high school, so it was as new to him as it was to me. But now the name Pompeo is not a unique name – or is not a common name. It’s pretty unique. People pretty quickly figure out that he is my son and so he ends up being involved in it to one degree or another, even be it just as the son of the Secretary of State or the son of a former congressman.
I think maybe if you ask him in a few years he’ll be able to form a judgment. He has seen some of the benefits that have come from our ability to serve and try and make Kansas and now America and the world better, but I think he’s also seen some of the costs, some of the challenges that are presented from a very nasty political environment in which we all find ourselves. And so I – goodness, I don’t know what path he’ll find, but I’m confident the Lord will drive him in the right direction.
QUESTION: Yeah, good stuff. And we have Father’s Day coming up this weekend. What is the – what does kind of the perfect Father’s Day look like for you?
SECRETARY POMPEO: It’s just relaxing. It’ll be great. I’ll be here in the country, so I’m excited about that. We missed a few Father’s Days along the way. My son always gets a gift. It often is a gift that he and I can use together – couple of baseball gloves one year – so he’ll always find something that brings the two of us together. I look forward to seeing what shows up this weekend.
QUESTION: Yeah, and what kind of plans or aspirations do you have for the future here for yourself? And do they include a possible run for the presidency?
SECRETARY POMPEO: Goodness, I’m just focused on making sure we get it right and to serve President Trump and the administration and to try and deliver on behalf of the State Department what America needs. We’ve got a very aggressive foreign policy that is designed, as the President talks about, to make sure that we take care of the American people and secure freedom for the American people. We’ll do this, we’ll – there’ll be an election in November and then there’ll be lots of decisions to be made for me. The focus now is on making sure we close out this year in a way that delivers on the promises that President Trump has made to the American people.
QUESTION: Yeah, well said, and I love the job that you and the administration are doing. I love the fact that America is respected once again around the world, so I couldn’t be happier as an American citizen to see what’s taking place here with you guys. And the last thing I want to ask you here, Secretary Pompeo; I love to ask all the dads that I get on the podcast: What kind of advice do you have for that new dad or for that about-to-be father who’s out there listening?
SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah, pray hard. Pray hard for your children, dedicate yourself to being a good example for them. You won’t get it right every day. I certainly didn’t, but be focused on that. Be disciplined as – to the extent you can be about that. Know that that little boy or that little girl is watching closely not only you but how you interact with your spouse and they are modeling the things that you do. And bring the Lord into their life. If you do those things and do – and try to do them well every day, you’re likely to end up with a child that matures in a way that you’ll be very, very proud of when the years move on.
QUESTION: Very well said. I love the message. This has been a big honor for me, I’ve got to say, Secretary Pompeo. You’re a first-class father all the way and thank you so much for giving me a few minutes of your time here on First Class Fatherhood.
SECRETARY POMPEO: Alec, thank you very much. Bless you. So long.
* This article was originally published here
HELP STOP THE SPREAD OF FAKE NEWS!
SHARE our articles and like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter!
0 Comments