And so it begins. In earnest. As Breitbart reported on Tuesday, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is launching a political action committee to “buoy Republican chances of retaking majorities in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate in next year’s midterm elections, along with helping conservatives win, down-ticket, in state legislature and local races.”

Lemme fix that.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threw his hat just outside the 2024 presidential ring on Tuesday with an announcement that is launching the “Champion American Values” PAC (CAVPAC), which he said through a press release will not only focus on “building a team to crush Democrats” but will also — my favorite part — “ride to the sound of guns.”

Former Secretary of State @MikePompeo has launched a political action committee (PAC) to buoy Republican chances of retaking majorities in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate in next year’s midterm elections. https://t.co/aIk98Dh87V

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) June 15, 2021

If that last part doesn’t sound like a quintessential combination between Ronald Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, you haven’t been paying attention for at least 40 years.

Pompeo, who served the state of Kansas in Congress from 2011 until 2017 — when he joined the Trump administration as CIA director from 2017 to 2018, and as Secretary of State from 2018 to 2021 — is not only going to run for president in 2024; he has planned to do so since at least Trump left office. Convince me I’m wrong. His chances of becoming the 47th president of the United States, let alone winning the 2024 Republican nomination?

We’ll get there.

Pompeo discussed the effort in an appearance on Breitbart News Daily on Tuesday morning, with host Alex Marlow:

“I’ve begun my efforts already to make sure we build out a team to make sure we got enough candidates who crush their adversaries in November 2022, not just taking back the House and the Senate but state legislatures and city council offices across America. We’re going to be working — and CAVPAC is designed to do that.

“It comes from the fact that when I was a young soldier once in the cavalry, and when we were in the cav we rode to the sound of the guns. We were the first to the fight, and CAVPAC is going to do the same all across America.

“We’ve done dozens of events and we’ve got dozens more scheduled, where we’re going to go out and talk about the things that matter to the American people and to the American worker and make sure we get them to the polls and we win in November 2022 all across America.”

Did I mention Pompeo is running for president in 2024?

I won’t succumb to declaring the 2022 House outcome a foregone conclusion — let alone the Senate — nor will I ever write “clickbait” crap, but if I were “forced” to “bet it all on one color,” I’d bet it on “red.” If not in the Senate, as well. Democrat majorities are weak in both chambers and Biden continues to do his damnedest to kowtow to the rabid left. I simply have to believe that “cooler minds” in the Democrat Party (oxymoronic, these days?) know damn well that course will potentially spell disaster in 2022, if not 2024, as well.

Former Secretary of State @MikePompeo launched a PAC which will work to support GOP candidates for the 2022 election that are dedicated to “conservative values upon which America was founded.” https://t.co/Kv0BBgRzly

— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) June 15, 2021

Anyway, Pompeo unsurprisingly told Breitbart News he thinks “issues closest to home” will resonate with a majority of Americans in 2022 and beyond — and he mostly nailed what those issues have been from at least the outset of the COVID “pandemic.” (First time I’ve put that in quotes, BTW — on purpose.)

“It’s the things here at home. I spent the last four years as CIA director and secretary of state. We did good work in the Trump administration securing American freedom. You can see the differences with President Biden overseas this past week — the weakness is a stark contrast to the way we handled ourselves across the world.

“The issues are in front of us. The woke nature on our campuses scares the heck out of me — a next generation raised to think that antiracism is at the core of what America is and we have a racist founding? That the Green New Deal is going to save America? These ideas that we now have infiltrating the next generation of Americans and American leaders is something we’ve got to address.

“If you cancel the voices that reflect our founders’ ideals and the things that made America the most exceptional nation in the world, no amount of work anywhere in the world will save America from what our founders ultimately knew could bring the republic down.”

Did I mention that Pompeo is running for president in 2024?

Finally, Pompeo also addressed “the elephant in the room” — the 2020 presidential election, its aftermath, and its devastating effect on Trump supporters — and many Republicans in general.

“I’ve seen some of that too, but mostly what I’ve seen — I was in Nebraska, I was in southern Iowa, and Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin all in the last few weeks — I saw an awful lot of energy out there. You may be right there may be some folks out there who saw what happened in November 2020 and say ‘oh I’ve had it,’ but I see a lot of folks who say ‘I saw 2020 and I’m not letting that happen again.

“[But] I’m not going to let HR1 pass. We’re going to go crush this in two years.’ For those who say they’re behind it, just watch what’s going on. You can’t stand by. For those who sit on the sidelines and say ‘oh there’s no difference between these folks,’ I think what you’ve seen in the first 140 or 145 days of this administration proves that to be a lie.

“Those of us who were in the administration, who worked so hard for four years to deliver an economy that had more jobs and to deliver freedom all across America. We need those folks who were engaged in 2016, and in ’18, and in ’20, to come back in 2022 and then ultimately in 2024 when we’ve got to win the White House back and when we do we will put America back on the right course and we’ll get in a direction where we can protect it and make it great again.”

And Pompeo was right, of course. The larger question is, as we look towards 2024, is he the guy? Is Mike Pompeo the guy who should be the Republican standard-bearer in 2024? I don’t believe he is. Somewhere in the next GOP administration, perhaps? Absolutely.

But at the helm? No. Why not? Call it a hunch.

Speaking of the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, check out my recent:

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