After President Trump Mike Waltz, his national security adviser, drove out on Thursday evening, he settled on someone who is less raced on Russia and was willing to stay in lock with his approach to the foreign policy of Iran, Gaza and China.
He didn’t have to look far.
By making Van Marco Rubio the top advisor of foreign policy in the West Wing, Mr Trump, in addition to his State Secretary, turned to a one-off political rival who spent the first three months of the administration as a loyal, Globe-Trotting Voetsoldaat and a reliable Echo of the President.
Now Mr Rubio will help to run that agenda from both the White House and the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – even if the old friend of the president, Steve Witkoff, the most important negotiator, who is responsible for finding the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the reaching of a deal with Iran in the Nuclear Weapon’s.
Leslie Vinjamuri, the director of the US and the Americas Program in Chatham House, a London research institute, said that Mr Rubio “is willing to lines and follow where Trump is. What we get in this government is: Loyalty comes first, loyalty to the man, the mission.”
But by consolidating so much foreign policy forces in one person, she added, Mr Trump threatens to lose someone who could give him different policy perspectives or competitive advice.
“You simply reduce the number of potential points for someone who says:” Actually, WHOA. See what just happened, “she said.” Look at this piece of information that flies to what we suspected. “
Mr Rubio’s new assignment, who often requires that the national security adviser remains in the White House and close to the president, will probably further hinder his ability to travel the whole world as the best diplomat in America. That will leave even more room for Mr. Witkoff, who has little experience in foreign policy, to continue his negotiations around the world. But Mr. Rubio will probably more often Mr. If he spends time in his new office on the first floor of the West Wing, Trump only has a stone’s throw from the Oval Office.
In Russia, Mr Rubio is less likely to challenge Mr Trump than Mr Waltz, who is a more traditional Republican Hawk. Waltz had argued internally For sharp sanctions against Russia if it does not make a deal to end the war in Ukraine, which makes that case as recently as Monday, according to a person with knowledge of what happened. Mr. Trump has given little public indication that he is interested in that option.
The Havik ideology of Mr. Waltz, criticism of President Vladimir V. Putin van Russia and his earlier support for President Volodymyr Zensky van Ukraine made him A topic of deep suspicion In the administration, according to three people who are closely linked to the president.
Without Mr. Waltz in the White House there will be a less senior official who serves as an informal leadership for Mr. Trump for foreign leaders. But for Ukraine, the Middle East, Russia and China, Mr Rubio’s ascension underlines the president’s determination to speak with one, united voice.
As a Senator from Florida, Mr Rubio had been a vocal critic of Russia and an enthusiastic champion of Mr. Zelensky after Russia had invaded Ukraine in 2022. But as State Secretary, Mr Rubio belongs to the choir of administration officials who publicly warned that Mr. Trump would be running from the besieged country.
“We have to figure out here, within a few days, whether this is feasible in the short term,” Mr Rubio told reporters in mid-April while meeting European leaders to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine. “Because if that is not the case, I think we’ll just continue.”
Mr Rubio has also reflected the line of the President on the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and says on various occasions that “Hamas should be eradicated.” After Mr. Trump suggested that Palestinians would be removed from the territory to make way for a ‘Gaza Riviera’, Mr Rubio Posted on X That “the United States are ready to lead and make Gaza beautiful again.”
Just like his boss, Mr Rubio said that China is the “greatest threat” of America, and he has been a fierce lawyer on behalf of Mr. Trump to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal. In comments to reporters last month, Mr Rubio refused to say that the president would exclude the use of violence to take over Greenland.
“What we are not going to do is now come in China and say, offer them a lot of money and become dependent on China,” Said rubio. He said, “I’m not going to exclude anything if Greenland is affected by a foreign power such as a China or Russia or someone else.” ‘
And although Mr Rubio has repeated the president’s warning that the United States does not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, he also followed Mr. Trump’s directive to seek a diplomatic deal that would eliminate the need for military action.
“This is the best chance they will have,” Mr. Rubio said about Iran on Fox News Thursday evening. “President Trump is a president of peace. He doesn’t want a war.”
Mr. Witkoff has had the discussions with Iran in recent weeks. But Mr. Rubio has also been vocal, insisting that every deal must require that Iran gives the ability to enrich uranium, even for nuclear energy reactors. Iranian leaders have publicly rejected that question and say that they must have the right to produce uranium.
“You might read this as an indication that Waltz was out of step with Trump in Haviks about issues such as Ukraine and Iran,” said Hal Brands, the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University.
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