In a Perfect World... Mike Pompeo Would Be President

On Monday morning, two familiar faces came across my TV screen as I watched Fox & Friends while eating breakfast. One is a former Secretary of State and CIA Director and the other is a current U.S. Senator from Arkansas.

That’s right… Mike Pompeo and Tom Cotton. And, in an ideal world, I would love to see them be the next President and Vice President of the United States.

Now before you test my coffee cup to see if it was spiked with Polmos Spirytus Rektyfikowany – a Polish vodka that, at 96%, is the world’s strongest alcohol – I realize that neither man’s name will appear on the ballot on November 5, 2024. But please allow me my own personal pipe dream before you pop my political balloon (how’s that for a mixed metaphor?)

In addition to the above credentials, Mike Pompeo graduated first in his class from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1986, after which he served in the U.S. Army as both a tank platoon leader and a calvary troop executive officer before leaving the service as a captain. He then graduated from Harvard Law School in 1994, where he also served as editor of the Harvard Law Review and the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.

After graduation, Pompeo and two of his friends from West Point went into business together, forming a very successful aeronautics company. Pompeo sold his stake in the company in 2006 and was soon named president of Sentry International, an oilfield equipment manufacturer.

Three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives followed by the aforementioned tenures at the CIA and the State Department round out Pompeo’s impressive resume. Frankly, I can’t think of a more qualified man to serve as America’s Chief Executive and Commander-in-Chief than Michael Richard Pompeo.

As for Sen. Tom Cotton, his resume includes being raised on his family’s seven-generation farm and – at 6’5” tall – playing center on his high school basketball team. Cotton was then accepted to Harvard University, from which he graduated Magna Cum Laude after just three years. His senior thesis was on the Federalist Papers. Four years later, Cotton graduated from Harvard Law School and went into private practice after clerking for a year.

And then he voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army…

Commissioned as a second lieutenant after graduating from Officer Candidate School, the U.S. Army Ranger Course, and Airborne Ranger School, Cotton deployed twice to the Middle East. As part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Cotton led a 41-man air assault infantry platoon and performed daily combat patrols. Promoted to first lieutenant, Cotton then deployed to Afghanistan where, as an operations officer, he was involved in counter-insurgency and reconstruction operations.

For his military service, Cotton was awarded a Bronze Star, two Army Commendation medals, a Combat Infantry Badge, a Ranger tab, an Iraq Campaign Medal, and an Afghanistan Campaign Medal. After serving one-term in the U.S. House of Representatives, Cotton defeated a two-term Democratic senator in 2014 at the age of 37.

An outspoken conservative who received an 86.06 lifetime rating from The American Conservative Union's Center for Legislative Accountability, Cotton and his wife Anna have two children.

Experience, conservative values, and substance over style. Now you know why Pompeo-Cotton is my dream ticket. If not in 2024, maybe in 2028.