Certainly the way some frightened senior GOP members are running scared makes it appear that he has.

The question is are they quaking in their boots for fear of what Trump might do to them or are they terrified of the dangerously militant base that unquestioningly swallows everything he says

By becoming US President in 2016, Trump silenced those within its ranks protesting that that the pathological liar and tax dodger posed an existential threat to Abraham Lincoln’s party.

The election map shows much has been proven true.

Donald Trump has lost the presidency, plain and simple.

There is no escaping this reality but his sociopathic condition will not allow him to acknowledge defeat.

So he is looking for a path out of the White House that does not look like losing.

He does not care a jot what damage this is doing to American democracy.

Some analysts say Trump has attained king-making powers that enable him to boost or destroy the careers and aspirations of Republican politicians.

There is an increasing likelihood that his path to defeat in 2020 is being  made more palatable by his contesting the 2024 election.

What use is a king-maker who is determined to retain is crown?

My bet is the Republicans prepared to sacrifice their credibility are actually fearful of upsetting not Trump himself but the dangerous Trump base.

That might account for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo telling a news briefing about a re-elected Donald Trump.

It does not explain why the press corp did not simply burst out laughing and leave the room when he said it.

Being obliged to paint a balanced  picture or to actually sympathize with  a frightened Pompeo does not require one to be played for a fool.

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His foundation says the money will go the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization that’s appealing for $76-million to eradicate the pests threatening the food security of millions.

ends intro

Bill Gates’ contribution to fighting the locust outweighs that of his government.

Visiting Africa last week, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave $8-million to fight the infestation from Yemen that has wrecked the harvests in eight countries in East Africa and the Horn.

Uganda’s has 2 000 soldiers drying to eradicate the many billions of pests who fly 150 km a day and consume their own body weight.

The operation takes place at night when the locusts are stationary and is described as dangerous and unending.

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Pompeo was speaking to reporters at the end of a three-nation African safari designed to counter China’s growing influence in Africa.

The United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the South African Government plan to expropriate land without compensation is an example of centralized planning that has failed in other African countries like Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

He says it will be a disaster for the economy and most importantly for the South African people.

Pompeo says African countries need strong rule of law, respect for property rights and regulation that encourages investment for inclusive and sustainable growth.

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The charge comes from China’s Ambassador to South Africa in a briefing to journalists in Pretoria.

Ambassador Lin Songtian notes that US Secretary of State Mike  Pompeo is on his first visit to Africa after two years in the job.

By comparison, his Beijing counterpart has Africa at the top of his foreign visits every year.

Instead of trying to boost Washington’s aid, co-opertion and investment in Africa, which has been in decline since 2004, Pompeo is seeking to counter Chinese and Russian influence in Africa.

“I am not surprised by the remarks from Pompeo, as a former head of the CIA he is living in the cold war,” he said.

Lin says Pompeo should look in a mirror before embarrassing his administration by criticizing China’s role in Africa.

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By contrast, President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria’s dropping visa restrictions to build its talent pool by attract innovation, specialist skills and knowledge from abroad.

Speaking after talks in Washington with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama says the immigration ban on his compatriots was announced as he was preparing for talks on expanding  bilateral co-operation.

He says US officials assured him the ban would be lifted.

He’s working to ease US security concerns which largely led to the  immigrant ban by sharing information about immigrants’ criminal behaviour, stolen passports and suspected links with terrorism 

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U.S.Under Secretary of State for Africa Tibor Nagy (pronounced like “garage) says he was briefed by South African officials closely involved in the expropriation of land.

Under Secretary of State for Africa Tibor Nagy says he’s convinced that South Africa’s  land redistribution is totally different from that in Zimbabwe which was outside the scope of jurisprudence and legal process.

His boss Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been instructed by President Donald Trump to monitor the situation.

“That could be a loaded issue  that US investors would take a very close look at when making a decision on whether or not to invest in South Africa.”he says

Nagy says they will follow the process through the stages of constitution and parliament and see where it comes out.   

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Trump’s about-turn flied in the face of his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who earlier this week called on Khalifa Hafar to stop his advance on Tripoli.

The United States was among the powers to endorse Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Al Serraj.

So it was logical that Washington should support against him against the rebel leader Khalifa Hafar, who happens to be an American citizen.

His attack on Tripoli has left more than 300 dead, more than 1 000 wounded and more 25 000 displaced

President Donalds Trump has turned this on its head this week praising Haftar for fighting  terrorism and protecting Libya’s oil reserves.

Beleaguered Tripoli residents are demanding that the US explain that they’re calling a betrayal. 

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Khalifa Haftar, ordered his troops to knock out the last functional airport in Tripoli .

They’ve killed 30 civilians and lost 22 of their own men in a week fighting.

Khalifa Haftar has rejected calls from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to stop his so-called National Liberation Army’s advance on Tripoli.

The 75-year-old warlord was part of the coup that brought Mammar Gadaffi to power.

When he fell out with the dictator in the late eighties, he went into exile in the United States where he became a citizen.

He return to Libya for the overthrow of Gadaffi in 2011 and became leader of the NLA three years later.

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Briefing reporters in Pretoria, Sisulu rejected any comparison between current critics of government policy now using the media and anti apartheid activists seeking international support.

Lindiwe Sisulu says she was pointedly measured in her response to US President Donald Trump’s ill-informed remarks about land seizure in South Africa and the large scale killing of white farmers.

The foreign minister  says she’s given her phone number to her US counterpart Mike Pompeo to avoid a repeat of this.

Government would to sit back and allow pressure groups to spread lies about South Africa.

“The comparison between those people who are lobbying the international community against land reform and the struggle against apartheid is an insult that has no measure,” she says

Apartheid was declared a crime against humanity but  the ANC government, seeking land reform, has committed no crime

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South Africa’s not on his list,  marking it’s fall from the country with the most advanced relations with Washington to one of those most likely to vote against the US at the United Nations.

The State Department tweets show a  common thread through Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s calls to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, African Union Commission head Moussa Faki Mahmat and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmet.

It stresses longstanding relations and US eagerness to help in advancing security, stability and democracy.

South Africa, which once had a binational commission with Washington that put members of the two administrations on first name terms has clearly fallen from that status.  

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