Florida Senator Marco Rubio is promising to implement President-elect Donald Trump’s “America First” approach as secretary of state, promising at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday that the incoming administration will put American interests “above everything else.” “Will create a new path by keeping it.
“Putting our core national interests above everything else is not isolationism,” Rubio will tell the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to an initial statement obtained by The Associated Press. “It is common sense that a foreign policy focused on our national interest is not a relic.”
“The post-war global order is not only obsolete, but it is now a weapon being used against us,” Rubio says.
It’s a remarkable opening message from Rubio, who was born in Miami to Cuban immigrants, and if confirmed, he would become the first Latino to serve as the nation’s top diplomat.
The confirmation hearing begins a new chapter in the political career of the 53-year-old Florida Republican, whose relationship with Trump has evolved over the past decade. Once rivals who exchanged schoolyard insults while campaigning for the presidency in 2016, the two men have become close allies as Trump campaigned for another White House term last year.
Rubio first came to Washington in 2010 as part of the “Tea Party” wave and once advocated opening a path to citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally. But like other Republicans, Rubio’s views on immigration have shifted toward the hardline stances of Trump, who has promised to aggressively pursue deportations after taking office on Monday.
Unlike many of Trump’s Cabinet selections, Rubio is expected to get confirmation easily, garnering support not only from Republicans but also from Democrats, who support him as a “responsible” choice to represent the US abroad. Many expect him to be one of the first names approved by Trump’s Cabinet.
Democratic Senator Brian Schatz, who served with Rubio on the Foreign Relations Committee, said he was very hopeful that the Florida Republican would reject the isolationist approach of other Trump allies.
“I think Marco is a hawk, but he’s also an internationalist, and I think the challenge for him will be to maintain America’s long bipartisan tradition of being indispensable in world affairs,” the Hawaii congressman told the AP. “And there are people in Trump’s world who want us to shy away from being the leader of the free world. And I hope Marco’s instincts toward American power will win the day.”
Rubio’s approach to foreign affairs is based on his years of service on the Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Intelligence Panel. In his speeches and writings, he has issued strong warnings about growing military and economic threats from the United States, particularly China, which he says has benefited from a “global world order” that he describes as obsolete. Are.
Rubio will tell the committee that China has “lied, cheated, hacked and stolen its way to global superpower status at our expense.”
If confirmed, Rubio would become the leader of US foreign policy – although his role would certainly remain secondary to Trump, who enjoys the global stage and often uses the pulpit to bully against America’s allies.
Even before taking office, Trump has stoked fear in foreign capitals by threatening to seize the Panama Canal and Greenland and suggesting he would pressure Canada to become the country’s 51st state.
Rubio will say that, by winning another term, Trump has secured an “unfailing mandate from the voters.”
“They want a strong America. Engaged in the world. But guided by a clear purpose, promoting peace abroad and security and prosperity here at home.”
The Biden administration’s decision to revoke Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism with just days left in office is likely to anger Rubio, who has long supported tough sanctions on the communist-run island. .
Rubio’s office did not respond to multiple questions Tuesday about the senator’s reaction to the move, which many believe the Trump administration will almost certainly reverse.
Secretaries of State have played a key role in formulating the nation’s foreign policy since its founding, beginning with the first Secretary, Thomas Jefferson, who served in the top Cabinet post under President George Washington.
Since then, Jefferson, as well as his 19th-century successors James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, and James Buchanan, have all been elected president.
Recent Secretaries of State have been less successful in their political ambitions, including John Kerry, who ran for President George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election before becoming a top diplomat. Bush, and Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 election to Trump.
The most successful Secretaries of State are known for their closeness to the presidents they serve, notably James Baker under George H.W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice under George W. Bush, and, to a lesser extent, under Barack Obama. Clinton.
Like Clinton, Rubio was once a political rival of the president-elect who nominated him. However, Clinton–Obama relations during the 2008 Democratic primaries were not as hostile as those between Trump and Rubio in the 2016 GOP primaries, which were marked by name-calling and personal insults.
Trump had a bitter relationship with his first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. Less than two years into his tenure, Trump removed him from office through a social media post.
