Pompeo, Other Administration Officials Have No Idea What Trump Will Do Next

I almost feel sorry for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Almost.

By the time Rex Tillerson had received his walking papers and exited the State Department, every indication was that he was ready to go. Reports for months prior to his exit told the tale of a man at his limit with the unprofessional, low-info train wreck occupying the Oval Office.

You can’t paint over dirt.

Mike Pompeo readily accepted a position that would have him routinely walking the foreign policy tightrope, even as the boss held one end of the line and gave it the all-too-often shake.

Was he not paying attention to everything Tillerson was being forced to endure?

He had to be, so we can assume he went into the job with eyes wide open. He’s finding, however, that he’s no more on top of what’s to come next from the Oval Office than his predecessor.

Pompeo is working for a president who has no respect for the various offices of his Cabinet, because he still doesn’t understand that he’s not a monarch.

The work Pompeo has been doing, as far as lobbying for the release of American Pastor Andrew Brunson, held captive in Turkey for the past year and a half, on charges that he participated in an attempted coup of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were potentially turned upside down on Thursday by a Donald Trump tweet (of course).

NBC News reported on Thursday that Pompeo was surprised by Trump’s tweet Thursday that the U.S. would “impose large sanctions on Turkey” over the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson, who has been imprisoned in the country over charges of espionage and terrorism.

Was that helpful? It certainly limits the room Pompeo has to go about this thing professionals call “diplomacy.”

It’s like some sort of Shakespearean play – Pity poor Pompeo.

But Pompeo also did not know that the White House had extended an invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Washington, D.C., this fall for a second meeting with the president, according to NBC News.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats similarly did not know of the invitation until White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced it in a tweet that was read on stage during a live interview with Coats.

So everybody gets thrown under the bus, it appears.

President Trump can’t get enough of his man-crush, Vlad, and this makes it very difficult for those who are tasked with keeping order in the administration to do their jobs, adequately.

So who among us can picture any scenario where Russia’s Vladimir Putin steps foot in Washington, D.C. and we don’t see a repeat of Trump’s mewling acquiescence to a hostile foreign power, right on our own soil?

Well, we may not have to worry about that, at least for the time being. Putin poo-pooed the notion of traveling to the United States, saying that Russia was not yet ready to accept Trump’s invitation.

Do you know why?

Because the master does not go to the dog. The dog must go to the master.

And yes, it’s all a power play by Russia. They need Trump sweating, wondering if Vlad still favors him.

The White House now says they will wait to 2019 to meet again with Putin, in anticipation of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, as well as potential obstruction by President Trump to end.

In the meantime, Secretary Pompeo and others in the administration will be gritting their teeth and waiting for the next toxic spill to clean up.