Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says get ready for a second Trump term. Who should run the State and Defense Departments for President-Elect Biden? Will there be a Trump provocation against Iran? Phyllis Bennis on theAnalysis.news podcast with Paul Jay. Transcript Paul Jay Hi, I'm Paul Jay. Welcome t

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says get ready for a second Trump term. Who should run the State and Defense Departments for President-Elect Biden? Will there be a Trump provocation against Iran? Phyllis Bennis on theAnalysis.news podcast with Paul Jay.

Transcript

Paul Jay

Hi, I'm Paul Jay. Welcome to theAnalysis.news podcast. Please don't forget the donate button at the top of the webpage.

Mike Pompeo says he's preparing for a peaceful transition to a second Trump administration. Here's what he said on Tuesday afternoon:

Mike Pompeo

There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration. [Snickers.] All right, we're ready. The world is watching what's taking place here. We're going to count all the votes. When the process is complete, there'll be electors selected. There's a process. The Constitution lays it out pretty clearly.

Paul Jay

Now joining us to talk about what Pompeo had to say and, more importantly, about what the Biden administration is likely to do and what she would like to see it do when it comes to foreign policy and foreign policy appointments is Phyllis Bennis. She's the director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. And among her latest books are Understanding ISIS and The New Global War on Terror: A Primer, as well as the recently published, seventh, updated edition of her popular Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer.

Thanks for joining us, Phyllis.

Phyllis Bennis

Great to be with you, Paul.

Paul Jay

So, first of all, start with what Pompeo said. It sounds like he's serious. He says, apparently, that he's going to go to some foreign capitals to talk about the next Trump administration. What is all this showboating about?

Phyllis Bennis

I think it's very much about showboating. I think he's trying to frighten Biden supporters and Trump opponents who might believe this. I don't think it's based on anything. There's certainly no reasonable way to think that there's going to be a second Trump term any time soon. And I think that his travel, which had been announced before this, was already underway. I think he's getting out of Dodge at this moment. He doesn't have any role to play, but his role has been one of the most loyal cabinet members, one of the most loyal "Trumpets," if you will, along with William Barr, the attorney general. The two of them have been the most loyal in the cabinet. And I think that's all that's going on here. I don't think it's serious. It's nothing more than his wish list: he would like to still be the secretary of state. But I don't think it has any bearing on reality.

Paul Jay

All right, so this is not some hint that there's a serious attempt at what would be a judicial coup of some kind.

Phyllis Bennis

I think they're hoping for that, but I don't think there's any evidence. They haven't been able to come up with any bit of evidence to convince any, including rightwing Republican, judges, that there's any basis for a case. Until that happens, I don't think there's any reason to take it very serious...