By Natasha Lindstaedt
Almost all of Donald Trump’s nominees for critical positions within his presidential administration have been non-traditional. Fox News presenter Pete Hegseth was just named as Trump’s possible defence secretary. Alongside Elon Musk, pharmaceutical company entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has been tapped to lead a newly named Department of Government Efficiency.
With little background in border protection, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem has been nominated as the director of the Department of Homeland Security. Linda McMahon, World Wrestling Entertainment co-founder has been named Trump’s pick for secretary of commerce.
All of these people have been incredibly loyal to Trump. Few have experience of being elected and representing the public.
That makes the nomination of Florida senator Marco Rubio a little surprising. Rubio wasn’t an election denier, something that the other picks have been vocal about, and he has years of experience as a senator. Rubio also famously made fun of Trump’s hands when he was vying against him for the Republican nomination in 2016.
In Trump’s usual fashion, he responded by referring to Rubio as “Little Marco”. But these two have clearly buried the hatchet, which is unusual for Trump. Rubio ended up campaigning on behalf of Trump and became one of his biggest fans.
So what makes Rubio a surprising pick for Trump’s foreign policy leader? Rubio is seen as more of a traditional interventionist and isn’t a fan of Russia. He called Vladimir Putin a “killer”, although within the last two years, Rubio has moderated his position.
This month, Rubio said that though he supports Ukraine, the war has to end. Rubio reasoned the US was funding a stalemate and this was no longer in Ukraine or US interests. Although he added: “That doesn’t mean that we celebrate what Vladimir Putin did or are excited about it.”
However, Rubio was also one of the Republicans who voted against the Ukraine aid bill in April 2024. It is likely that Rubio will support Trump’s desire to make a deal with Russia, that would involve Ukraine capitulating and giving up significant territory.
Rubio on Nato
While Rubio has clearly changed his tune on Ukraine to align with Trump, he is not in lockstep with Trump on Nato. In fact, Rubio co-sponsored legislation alongside Democratic senator Tim Kaine, that would make it more difficult for Trump to withdraw from Nato by requiring two-thirds of the Senate to ratify withdrawal.
As Trump has notoriously been critical of Nato, this is likely to be an area of disagreement between the two, but might be seen as a hopeful sign by other Nato member nations.
Trump, however, seems to be willing to look past this because he agrees with Rubio’s hawkish approach to China and Iran. Rubio has proposed banning companies controlled by the Chinese Communist Party or the Chinese military from accessing US capital markets.
Rubio also advocated that electric cars that use Chinese technology not receive subsidies, and sponsored a law to prevent the import of Chinese products that were manufactured with forced labour.
Rubio on Iran
When it comes to Iran, Rubio sees no difference between the leadership of hardliner Iranian former president Ebrahim Raisi
and the more moderate current president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Rubio has advocated for tougher sanctions on Iran, and more pressure applied to curb the regime’s nuclear ambitions. A staunch supporter of Israel, Rubio has argued that Iran’s main goal is to make Israel unliveable.
If confirmed, Rubio would make history as the first Hispanic American secretary of state, and is fluent in Spanish. In Latin American politics, Trump has demonstrated blind faith in Rubio’s knowledge of the region.
During Trump’s first term, Rubio was certainly involved in US foreign policy towards Latin America, acting almost as a de facto secretary of state. Rubio worked to reverse the Obama administration’s softer stance on Cuba, and levy tougher sanctions against the Cuban military.
Rubio also was instrumental in cracking down on Venezuela. Rubio has made clear his position that Venezuela has become a “narco”state that cannot be negotiated with.
Rubio has clarified that all options should be on the table when dealing with Venezuela, and thus has not ruled out a military response to remove Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro from power. Though it’s unlikely that the US would invade Venezuela, Rubio will likely advocate for much harsher sanctions against the country.
So what best characterises Rubio’s foreign policy? He definitely wants to take a tough approach towards America’s adversaries, but wouldn’t advocate military invasions.
More importantly, Rubio is very transactional. He has made his peace with changing his mind on key foreign policy issues in order to be invited into Trump’s inner circle. Rubio was willing to turn his back on Ukraine in order to more closely mirror the Maga agenda, and in return will be given free rein to direct US foreign policy in Latin America and a plum secretary of state role.
While Trump’s main foreign policy agenda is to try to enforce an “America first” agenda, where US national interests are always predominant, and be unpredictable, Rubio could bring some predictability to the role.
He might be closer in attitude to Rex Tillerson, Trump’s former secretary of state who was ousted in 2018. Tillerson claimed that Trump had almost no understanding of global events (behind closed doors Tillerson allegedly called Trump a moron). Or he might be more like former secretary of state Mike Pompeo who regularly sung Trump’s praises.
While Tillerson had no political aspirations beyond his tenure in the cabinet, Pompeo clearly did and Rubio certainly does. He might even challenge J.D. Vance for rising star status.
Though there are likely to be some tensions that will erupt between Trump and Rubio, given the dominance that Trump currently has over the Republican party, we might expect Rubio to hitch his wagon to Trump world. Once in place and in charge of international negotiations, his differences in position might become a little clearer.
Natasha Lindstaedt is Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Essex.
jackson says
Other countries have seen Rubio be completely emasculated publicly by Trump. They’ll be laughing at him behind his back(if not to his face).
Pogo says
@jackson: the emperor is naked — on a nudist beach
The truth is much worse. trump is the United States — just ask him/it, whatever.
The rest of the world see this and act accordingly for their own self-interest — and fear.
A souless, absurd beyond words, infantile slob, utterly bereft of any self-insight or conscience; animated solely by greed, indeed, an insatiable desire for self-gratification, and acute survival instincts, has been elevated by his fellows.
And here we all are.
You believe republicons? says
Isn’t the plan to end nato and start ww3? Chief con already tried to exit nato once.
Deborah Coffey says
Every time I see Marco Rubio, I hear the words, “blowing in the wind.” This is a man that voted against The Violence Against Women Act. Apparently, he likes us beaten up.
Ray W, says
Hello Deborah Coffey:
On the eve of Germany’s June 22, 1941, invasion of Russia, Winston Churchill and his private secretary, Mr. Colville, walked as they discussed after dinner the implications of the invasion.
According to Mr. Colville’s account, Churchill had opined during dinner that Hitler was counting on the invasion of the communist state to enlist “capitalist and Right Wing sympathies” in both Great Britain and America. Churchill thought Hitler wrong in that expectation, adding that Great Britain would do everything it could to help the Soviet Union.
Mr. Colville asked Churchill during the after-dinner walk if Churchill, a virulent anti-communist, was “bowing down in the House of Rimmon.”
Churchill said, “Not at all. I have only one purpose, the destruction of Hitler, and my life is much simplified thereby. If Hitler invaded Hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.”
As an aside, bowing to the House of Rimmon means to sacrifice one’s principles for the sake of conformity, from the Second Book of Kings, 5:18.
Historically, the phrase was first used in a political context in 1646. In 1868, it was used to describe a Liberal member of Parlaiment thus:
“What is Mr. Roebuck’s fault in the eyes of his party? It is simply that the member for Sheffield is of too independent a character to please the present Liberal leaders. He will not bow his head at the temple of Rimmon. Nay, he has dared to blaspheme the gods of the tribe.”
Yesterday’s wayward Liberal parliamentarian shunned, today’s RINO tarred and feathered out of the no-longer conservative Republican Party.
Oh, the blasphemy of it all!
Deborah Coffey says
Thank you, Ray W. I am trying to cling to the belief that there is a much larger plan here, not of men but of a higher power that oversees this universe…and maybe, all universes…a plan to bring humans to their senses, a plan that will awaken them to all that is good and to be able to tell the difference between what is good and that which is evil. But, humanity seems to keep doing the same awful things over and over…blaming, hating, seeking power and money. Russia saved once, reverted to its greed and cruelty. The United States, once creating freedom from a despot has reverted to choosing a different despot. So, yes…”Oh, the blasphemy of it all!”
Ray W, says
On the evening of June 22, 1941, Winston Churchill broadcast to the English people the news of Germany’s invasion of Russia.
Here are excerpts from his speech:
“… The Nazi regime is indistinguishable from the worst features of Communism. It is devoid of all theme and principle except appetite and racial domination. It excels all forms of human wickedness in the efficiency of its cruelty and ferocious aggression. No one has been a more consistent opponent of Communism than I have for the last twenty-five years. I will unsay no word that I have spoken about it. But all this fades away before the spectacle which is now unfolding. The past, with its crimes, its follies, and its tragedies, flashes away. I see the Russian soldiers standing on the threshold of their native land, guarding the fields which their fathers have tilled from time immemorial. I see them guarding their homes where mothers and wives pray — ah, yes, for there are times when all pray — for the safety of their loved ones, the return of the bread-winner, of their champion, of their protector. I see the ten thousand villages of Russia where the means of existence is wrung so hardly from the soil, but where there are still primordial human joys, where maidens laugh and children play. I see advancing upon all this in hideous onslaught the Nazi war machine, with its clanking, heel-clicking, dandified Prussian officers, its crafty expert agents fresh from the cowing and tying-down of a dozen countries. I see also the dull, drilled, docile, brutish masses of the Hun soldiery plodding on like a swarm of crawling locusts. I see German bombers and fighters in the sky, still smarting from many a British whipping, delighted to find what they believe is an easier and a safer prey.
“Behind all this glare, behind all this storm, I see that small group of villainous men who plan, organize, and launch this cataract of horrors upon mankind. …
“I have to declare the decision of His Majesty’s Government — and I feel sure it is a decision in which the great Dominions will in due course concur — for we must speak out now at once, without a day’s delay. I have to make the declaration, but can you doubt what our policy will be? We have but one aim and one single, irrevocable purpose. We are resolved to destroy Hitler and every vestige of the Nazi regime. From this nothing will turn us — nothing. We will never parley, we will never negotiate with Hitler or any of his gang. We shall fight him by land, we shall fight him by sea, we shall fight him in the air, until, with God’s help, we have rid the earth of his shadow and liberated its peoples from his yoke. Any man or state who fights on against Nazidom will have our aid. Any man or state who marches with Hitler is our foe . . . That is our policy and that is our declaration to Russia and the Russian people. We shall appeal to all our friends and allies in every part of the world to take the same course and pursue it, as we shall faithfully and steadfastly to the end. …
“This is no class war, but a war in which the whole British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations is engaged, without distinction of race, creed, or party. It is not for me to speak of the action of the United States, but this I will say, if Hitler imagines that his attack on Soviet Russia will cause the slightest divergence of aims or slackening of effort in the great democracies who are resolved upon his doom, he is woefully mistaken. On the contrary, we shall be fortified and encouraged in our efforts to rescue mankind from his tyranny. We shall be strengthened and not weakened in determination and resources.
“This is no time to moralize on the follies of countries and Governments which have allowed themselves to be struck down one by one, when by united action they could have saved themselves and saved the world from this catastrophe. But when I spoke a few minutes ago of Hitler’s blood-lust and the hateful appetites which have impelled or lured him on his Russian adventure, I said there was one deeper motive behind his outrage. He wishes to destroy the Russian power because he hopes that if he succeeds in this he will be able to bring back the main strength of his army and air force from the East and hurl it upon this island, which he knows he must conquer of suffer the penalty of his crimes. His invasion of Russia is no more than a prelude to an attempted invasion of the British Isles. He hopes, no doubt, that all this may be accomplished before the winter comes, and that he can overwhelm Great Britain before the Fleet and air power of the United States may intervene. He hopes that he may once again repeat, upon a greater scale than ever before, that process of destroying his enemies one by one by which he has so long thrived and prospered, and then the scene will be clear for the final act, without which all his conquests would be in vain — namely, the subjugation of the Western Hemisphere to his will and to his system.
“The Russian danger is, therefore, our danger, and the danger of the United States, just as the cause of any Russian fighting for his hearth and home is the cause of free men and free peoples in every quarter of the globe. Let us learn the lessons already taught by such cruel experience. Let us redouble our exertions, and strike with united strength while life and power remain.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Substitute Putin for Hitler.
A weakened and divided Russia lost the First Chechnyan War. Elected in 2000, during the second year of the successful 1999-2006 Second Chechnyan War, Putin was ready in 2008 to partition Georgia. He was ready to partition the Ukraine in 2014 and he subsequently annexed Crimea. He thought he was ready in 2022 to absorb the rest of the Ukraine. He stands ready to overwhelm Moldova and meld its remains into Transnistria. Who is next? The three Baltic states? Poland? Romania?
Putin aims to destroy his enemies one by one, so long as each can be divided from its neighbors and allies. Finland and Sweden see this with clarity. NATO, formed in 1949, was an option they avoided for 73 years, preferring neutrality over alliance. That has all changed. We should never negotiate with Putin; it would be but a pause, a prelude to further aggression. His military has been mauled but not beaten.
Deborah Coffey says
Some of us understand that we must learn history lest we repeat our mistakes. “Behind all this glare, behind all this storm, I see that small group of villainous men who plan, organize, and launch this cataract of horrors upon mankind.” By united action we can, and we must, save ourselves.
Pogo says
@Hello Mr. W
Exactly. And this country is now ruled by Putin’s nihilist sock puppet — and its nihilist owners.
https://www.google.com/search?q=nihilist
“I smell blood and an era of prominent madmen.”
― W.H. Auden
https://www.google.com/search?q=W.H.+Auden