Secretary of State Pompeo is gearing up to face off against President Trump, and presumably others, for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2024 election, a new report in the Times of London says. 

During a recent visit to Britain, Mr. Pompeo told the newspaper that Mr. Trump confirming he will seek a second term would not affect his decision on a White House run. He and his wife of 22 years, Susan, will “make this decision wholly independent of who else decides to get in the race or who doesn’t,” Mr. Pompeo said.

The former Trump Cabinet member said he would decide about running “after November, sometime this year,” and that “if we conclude it’s the right place for us to be and we think that this is the right time for us to go serve, we’ll go at it and we’ll go make the case as best we can … and then we’ll see what the good people of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina think.”

The globetrotting 58-year-old diplomat and former CIA director has already appeared in advertisements that have run in the early-nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. In one such ad, which was paid for by the Champion American Values political action committee and was posted in June to Mr. Pompeo’s Twitter account, he says: “Let’s make sure our right to religious freedom and our right to pray are never canceled.” 

In May, the Sun’s Scott Norvell reported that Mr. Pompeo was widely considered to be contemplating a presidential run, “making regular trips to Iowa and New Hampshire in recent months and undergoing a jaw-dropping physical makeover that saw him shed 90 pounds since the Trump presidency.”

Mr. Pompeo may be wading into the 2024’s most important race gingerly, but his diplomatic chops are already serving him well as he makes a number of high-profile appearances at parleys beyond American shores. — where he tends not to hold back. Remarks he made at the 26th Annual Economist Government Roundtable earlier this month in Greece had a distinct campaign-trail flavor: “The American economy is in a mess,” Mr. Pompeo said to an audience outside the Greek capital. “That’s not political in the least. What I hear from people has nothing to do with Democrats or Republicans, what I hear from them is that ‘I can’t pay my rent.’” 

He pressed forward with that refrain, commingling the personal with the decidedly political: “I’m worried that we had to cancel half the games in my kids’ soccer league because the gasoline to drive them to their games was too expensive,” he said. “These are real-world impacts on a broad swath of America’s economy, and the current leadership in Washington, D.C., has not demonstrated any capacity to either understand the challenge in front of it nor to address these very real needs for the American people.”

The Times of London called Mr. Pompeo’s strategy a “risky” one “for someone in his position who would prefer to avoid Trump’s wrath,” adding that he would also need to make inroads against Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, another likely presidential contender who in that paper’s estimation has more traction with the Trump base.