When President-elect Trump on Wednesday officially announced Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as his pick for Secretary of State, he verified media rumors that had been flying around since shortly after the election. Rubio, a 53-year-old Cuban-American lawyer, is a highly competent career politician who appears to have, over time, grown closer to the policies and the person he might soon be calling his new boss.
After 14 years in the Senate, and as a member of the intelligence and foreign relations committees, the prospective Secretary of State has the knowledge required and is also respected as a stellar communicator. In the nomination announcement, Trump said Rubio will be “a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries.”
The two have not always been on the same page. As candidates in the 2016 Republican primary, they traded barbs: Trump referred to Rubio as “Little Marco,” and Rubio called Trump a “con artist” who should not be trusted with the nuclear codes. Following Trump’s primary win, however, Rubio adhered to a classy tradition in American politics and supported the primary winner in the general election. He then effectively functioned as a “shadow secretary of state” for Latin America during Trump’s first presidency.
Trump’s former National Security Advisor John Bolton told USA Today that “Marco’s approach was always to argue the substance of the policy, the issue” rather than trying to win the president over with flattery.
This year’s campaign brought the two closer, sources told USA Today, and Rubio’s name was on the shortlist of VP candidates.
In a statement responding to his nomination, Rubio said it was a “tremendous responsibility” and that he intends to “work every day to carry out [Trump’s] foreign policy agenda.”
That said, establishment Republicans still hope he can bring ‘traditional’ GOP views to bear on foreign policy, blending his hawkish stances on U.S. adversaries with support for NATO. Last summer, Rubio and Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine co-sponsored a bill aimed at making it harder for the U.S. to withdraw from NATO—something that ought to calm current European fears of being left in the lurch.
After the November 5th election, Rubio said to CNN that the U.S. is now entering “an era of pragmatic foreign policy. … The world is rapidly changing. You know, adversaries are uniting—in North Korea, Iran, China, Russia—increasingly coordinating. … It is going to require us to be very pragmatic and wise in how we invest overseas”
Known as a fierce critic of China, Rubio has twice been blacklisted by the country for his policy stances. He strongly supports Taiwanese independence and has pointed to China as posing a threat to the U.S. on the world stage. Speaking to the Heritage Foundation in 2022, he said,
The gravest threat facing America today, the challenge that will define this century and every generation represented here, is not climate change, the pandemic, or the left’s version of social justice. The threat that will define this century is China.
The Iranian regime—which Rubio has referred to as a “terrorist regime”—is also likely to be in his crosshairs. After the country attacked Israel earlier this year, Rubio on social media defended Israel’s right to defend itself, saying the country “should respond to Iran the way the U.S. would respond if some country launched 180 missiles at us.”
As secretary of state, he can also be expected to “zealously implement President-elect Trump’s plans to exert pressure on Iran’s crude [oil] exports, nearly all [of] which go to China,” Bob McNally, Rapidan Energy president and former advisor to President George W. Bush, told Reuters.
Rubio this year voted against a $6bn military aid package to Ukraine, after previously supporting such aid. Commenting on his vote, he said, “at the end of the day, what we are funding here is a stalemate war, and it needs to be brought to a conclusion or that country is going to be set back 100 years.”
Not all Republicans are convinced about the wisdom of this nomination, however. Rubio’s history of supporting American involvement in foreign wars is one thing that has raised concerns among MAGA Republicans. Even Tulsi Gabbard, nominee for the position of Director of National Intelligence, a few months ago described Rubio as part of the “neocon warmongering establishment.” But his nomination has also gained praise from quarters as different as those of Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman and Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott.
Rubio is expected to sail through Senate confirmation without a hitch.
