As World Burns, Tony Blinken Welcomes U2's Bono to State Department

Joel B. PollakApril 3, 2022

The war in Ukraine, the nuclear talks with Iran, the spate of terror attacks in the Middle East — nothing could keep Secretary of State Antony Blinken from hosting rocker Bono, frontman of U2, in an official visit to the State Department on Saturday.

Bono rocks, and I don’t just mean his music. He’s a caring, global-minded citizen who uses his talents for good. Thank you, Bono, for stopping by the @StateDept to discuss global health and humanitarian issues with us. pic.twitter.com/mbYrpmjvKG

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) April 2, 2022

Blinken welcomed Bono, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, and invited his staff to pose for photographs, which America’s leading diplomat, fresh from talks in Europe and the Middle East, posted to Twitter.

U2 has also been using its global reach to urge world leaders to “contribute billions” to help of Ukrainian refugees.

More recently, Bono, whose birth name is Paul David Hewson, composed a limerick for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) St. Patrick’s Day brunch, which likened Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the famed Irish patron saint.

‘I’ve a tradition of sending a limerick to @SpeakerPelosi’s St. Patrick’s Day lunch over the years. This year the limerick is irregular & not funny at all. We stand with the people of Ukraine & their leader. It wasn’t written to be published, but since it’s out, here it is.’-Bono pic.twitter.com/pLkE59DSxU

— U2 (@U2) March 17, 2022

Bono first began playing a role in world affairs during the presidency of George W. Bush, when he began advocating for global action against HIV/Aids and debt relief. He kept a lower profile during the administration of President Donald Trump.

He and fellow members of the band met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit in 2001.

Blinken is an enthusiastic guitar player, in addition to running U.S. foreign policy. He has continued the somewhat unique convention of recent Democratic administrations in turning to rock musicians when ordinary foreign policy seems to falter.

In 2015, Secretary of State John Kerry hosted folk-rock legend James Taylor in the wake of the terror attack at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris — a gesture defended by then-State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.