JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Down the stretch of Donald Trump’s campaign, one senator was stalwartly at his side.
And while he might not have been the right choice for veep, especially given J.D. Vance’s evolution throughout the campaign that included Q&As in every swing-state market and an expert dismantling of Tim Walz in last month’s debate, it’s time to give that senator the role he was born for.
While Marco Rubio is indeed correct when he says, as he has for days, he can help Trump achieve his objectives in the Senate, the reality is of all the people on the short list — Senate colleague Bill Hagerty and former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell among them — the 53-year-old Miami Republican is best suited to accomplish Trump’s foreign-policy aims.
In interview after interview with outlets across the ideological spectrum, Rubio shows a clear-eyed view of America’s myriad challenges on the global stage. We’re well past the “indispensable nation” era of globalism espoused by figures like former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and America — with $36 trillion in debt, much of it accrued from previous decades’ foreign conflicts — needs to pick its spots.
Rubio understands this, as exemplified by his Trumpian realpolitik on Ukraine.
“I think the Ukrainians have been incredibly brave and strong when standing up to Russia. But at the end of the day, what we’re funding here is a stalemate war, and it needs to be brought to a conclusion because that country is going to be set back 100 years,” Rubio said.
Trump has positioned himself as an honest broker in helping to litigate a peace between Russia and Ukraine, and Rubio would understand the assignment: to get that done in a way that protects America’s interest and gives both sides in that brutal war a chance at peace with honor.
The senator has also been clear-eyed about the situation in Israel. And it hasn’t been simple observation and pontification from afar; he was in the country this year.
Upon his return, he reflected on the essential alliance between Israel and the United States, making it evident he sees a shared mission for the two countries.
“Israel’s enemies are also our enemies. The Iranian regime and its proxies . . . seek Israel’s destruction as part of a multi-stage plan to dominate the Middle East and destabilize the West. The Jewish state is on the front lines of this conflict, fighting with many shared American-Israeli lives,” he wrote back in May for National Review.
And there is the question of the Western Hemisphere itself — a place where America has for too long allowed Russia and China to subvert national interest and allies, including right off US shores in Cuba.
As I’ve written previously for The Post, Trump leaned on Rubio as what The New York Times called a “virtual secretary of state for Latin America,” with policy being summed up as MMRH: “Make Marco Rubio Happy.”
There’s a reason Rubio has earned Trump’s trust with the part of the world that should be most important for American strategic aims. He speaks the language, and he understands the issues in play — specifically, the historic struggle pitting freedom and capitalism against socialism and despotism.
There are opportunities for dynamic new alliances that were left unexplored by the feckless Biden-Blinken foreign policy. Leaders like El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele and Argentina’s Javier Milei (who will in fact meet with Trump this week) yearn for a strong and respondent foreign policy that privileges liberty over puppet totalitarianism.
Like no one else Trump could pick for the job, Rubio is best equipped to facilitate these relationships and stave off our rivals on our doorsteps.
Whoever Trump picks as secretary of state needs to be able to start at top speed on Day One. There’s no room for learning curves or missteps. To that end, the pick needs to be a proven quantity when it comes to espousing a Trumpian foreign policy vision and understand how much damage has been done during the Biden interregnum. And he needs to know how to fix it immediately.
Like no one else under consideration, the senator from Florida is the best bet.
