The impropriety has already been widely noted. No secretary of state has ever spoken at a party convention. The Hatch Act forbids federal employees from taking part in political campaigns. Pompeo also violated his own guidance, sent to his underlings on Feb. 18 of this year. A bold-faced sentence in that memo read: “Senate-confirmed Presidential appointees may not even attend a political party convention or convention-related event.”

And yet, there he was, in the convention’s primetime hour Tuesday night, delivering a pre-taped speech in Jerusalem, on the rooftop of the King David Hotel, looking out on the Old City, endorsing President Donald Trump’s reelection.

Pompeo’s public-affairs office released a statement, saying he was speaking in his personal capacity and did not involve government resources—which, of course, is absurd. He flew to Israel on a government plane; he was no doubt escorted to the roof by government security; his assessment of Trump’s foreign policy would mean nothing if he were not secretary of state.

Once his appearance was announced, diplomats past and present expressed outrage at his partisan exploitation of his office—and of an allied nation.