Trump Expected To Tap Rubio As Secretary Of State

Shortly after raising hopes that he would keep his administration free of such people, Donald Trump has started filling his national security team with neoconservatives. First came word that he would assign New York Rep. Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador, then Florida Rep. Mike Waltz as National Security Advisor, and now the New York Times reports that Sen. Marco Rubio is expected to become Secretary of State.  

Citing “three people familiar with [Trump’s] thinking,” the Times reported on Monday evening that “Mr. Trump could still change his mind at the last minute, the people said, but appeared to have settled on Mr. Rubio, whom he also considered when choosing his running mate this year.” There’s a possibility that the Rubio rumors are being advanced by those who want him in that position, or that Trump is using a leak to test public reaction. 

Marco Rubio would arguably be the most hardcore interventionist Secretary of State for an incoming administration in decades, perhaps rivaling Hillary Clinton. Definitely outpaces Colin Powell, who was in the relatively more “realist” faction of the G. W. Bush Administration

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) November 12, 2024

On Saturday, Trump eliminated the possibility of either former CIA director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo or former UN ambassador Nikki Haley serving in his administration. That announcement followed a “stop Pompeo” social media campaign pushed by non-interventionist Trump supporters who were wary of Trump repeating the types of hiring errors that characterized his first administration. In one of the most glaring examples, Trump famously condemned the invasion of Iraq during his 2016 campaign only to then hire archetypal neocon John Bolton — an unrepentant proponent of the invasion — as his national security advisor. 

Trump’s exclusion of Pompeo and Haley was cheered by America First conservatives and libertarians, and their optimism was raised another couple notches when Donald Trump Jr assured podcaster Dave Smith that he was working to keep neocons and war hawks out of the White House: 

Agreed💯💯💯!!! I’m on it. https://t.co/wJga8VyIG2

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 10, 2024

The positive vibes were quickly shattered by reports that Trump will place three quintessential neocons in key national security and diplomacy positions — Stefanik as UN ambassador, Waltz as national security advisor, and Rubio as Secretary of State.  All three are anti-Iran hawks, zealous backers of the State of Israel, and major beneficiaries of pro-Israel lobbyists.  According to Track AIPAC, pro-Israel groups have given more than $1 million to Rubio, $900,000 to Stefanik, and $235,000 to Waltz. 

The Times report on Rubio’s apparent selection came after reports that contenders for the State job also included Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty, former acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell and — as a dark horse — former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. One of the most hawkish of US senators, Rubio has promoted an aggressive stance against China, pushed for regime change in Venezuela, absolved Israel of any responsibility for tens of thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza, and advocated for US military preemption of a hypothetical Iranian nuclear weapon program: 

MARCO RUBIO: The risk of a nuclear Iran is so great that [war with Iran] must be on the table

His reason why: If the US doesn’t go to war with Iran if they nuclearize, Israel or the Saudis will… pic.twitter.com/91NzR63i27

— Liam McCollum (@MLiamMcCollum) November 12, 2024

Waltz has a distinctly neocon resume, having served as Dick Cheney’s counterterrorism advisor and also working for Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld. He advocated for continued US military involvement in Afghanistan, despite decades of obvious futility. Last month, after Israel struck military targets in Iran, Waltz pushed for Israel to pursue a massive escalation of the conflict, via an attack on Iran’s oil export facilities on Kharg Island. He also sponsored an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) that would have empowered the president to go to war against Mexican drug cartels.  

The honeymoon is ending.

The Empire is being staffed.

A shame. Not surprising, but still a shame. https://t.co/K0ytph5bU4

— Chris Rossini (@ChrisRossini) November 12, 2024

Stefanik rose to national fame with her showboating performance in House hearings that probed prominent universities’ handling of campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. Conflating protesters’ calls for a new political order in Greater Israel with advocacy of genocide, Stefanik’s grilling of the presidents of Harvard, Penn and MIT has been credited with precipitating the resignation of Penn’s Liz Magill and Harvard’s Claudine Gay.  

Stefanik has made unconditional support of Israel the central feature of her political brand, declaring Israel is “our most precious ally,” opposing any conditions on the billions of dollars of American wealth that’s annually redistributed to Israel, and bragging “I am proud to have sponsored or backed every measure to aid Israel that has come before the United States Congress — every single one.”   

Despite the assurances of Donald Trump Jr, it should be no surprise that the second Trump administration is already echoing the exasperating personnel choices that characterized his first one. After all, Trump campaigned on ardent support of Israel and vilification of Iran. Turning those sentiments into policy pretty much necessitates the employment of Deep State neoconservatives. 

Perhaps more to the point, Trump’s political campaigns have been fueled by enormous donations from the late Sheldon and still-living Miriam Adelson, a billionaire couple whose foremost policy concern has been ensuring steady financial, military and political support for the State of Israel, and aligning Washington with the agenda of Israel’s right wing. They’ve likely had a significant influence on Trump’s appointments. 

It was true about Rubio then, and it’s true about Trump today, https://t.co/UEHCYIHnum

— Hunter DeRensis (@HunterDeRensis) November 12, 2024

The couple donated $90 million to Trump’s 2020 campaign, rewarding him for his Israel-catering policies, including relocating the US embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem, exiting the Iran nuclear deal and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in 1967’s Six-Day War. In the 2024 race, Miriam Adelson donated another $100 million to a pro-Trump PAC. 

For those who dread a scenario in which US troops again become pointlessly enmeshed in a major new Middle East war, the fact that the Trump neocon hiring spree was announced on Veteran’s Day poured salt in their wounds. Meanwhile, Monday’s staffing developments are the latest demonstration of a Tom Woods maxim: “No matter whom you vote for, you always wind up getting John McCain.”