The Senate has confirmed considered one of its members, Republican Marco Rubio of Florida, as the subsequent US secretary of state on Monday, giving Donald Trump the primary everlasting member of his cupboard simply hours after the brand new president was sworn in for the second time.
Rubio, 53, acquired overwhelming help from his former colleagues, with 99 senators backing his nomination. Rubio, who turns into the primary Latino American to function secretary of state, was anticipated to be simply confirmed, as senators largely considered him as one of many least controversial of Trump’s cupboard picks.
Throughout his listening to earlier than the Senate overseas relations committee final week, Rubio embraced Trump’s “America First” imaginative and prescient on overseas coverage, describing the brand new president’s strategy to the worldwide stage as a “commonsense realization”.
“Prudence within the conduct of overseas coverage will not be an abandonment of our values,” Rubio mentioned in his opening remarks on the listening to.
“It’s the commonsense understanding that whereas we stay the wealthiest and essentially the most highly effective nation on the Earth, our wealth has by no means been limitless … Putting our core nationwide curiosity above all else will not be isolation.”
Rubio will step into the position of America’s chief diplomat because the nation navigates escalating tensions overseas on a number of fronts. The conflict in Ukraine, which Trump dubiously vowed to finish inside 24 hours of taking workplace, is about to enter its fourth 12 months with no clear finish in sight.
Showing earlier than the Senate overseas relations committee final week, Rubio instructed that each Russia and Ukraine must make “concessions” to result in an finish to the conflict.
“There isn’t any approach Russia takes all of Ukraine. The Ukrainians are too courageous and struggle too laborious and the nation is simply too huge. That’s not going to occur,” Rubio mentioned. However he added, “There’s no approach Ukraine can also be going to push these folks all the best way again to the place they have been on the eve of the invasion.”
Regardless of Trump’s disparagement of Nato, Rubio praised the group as a “crucial alliance” for the US. And Rubio’s traditionally hawkish views on overseas coverage shined by way of as he mentioned China, arguing that the US should make “dramatic” modifications to guard the sovereignty of Taiwan.
“We have to wrap our head round the truth that except one thing dramatic modifications, like an equilibrium the place they conclude that the prices of intervening in Taiwan are too excessive, we’re going to must cope with this earlier than the tip of this decade,” Rubio mentioned.
Though Rubio’s nomination was met with reward from lots of his former Senate colleagues, his opening remarks on the affirmation listening to final week have been repeatedly interrupted by leftwing protesters who attacked him as a “conflict hawk”.
Rubio’s elevation to secretary of state marks the newest twist in his sophisticated and beforehand contentious relationship with Trump, after the 2 males competed in opposition to one another within the 2016 Republican presidential major. Throughout that fractious major battle, Trump mocked Rubio as “Little Marco”, whereas Rubio infamously taunted Trump over the dimensions of his fingers.
When Trump first took workplace in 2017, Rubio deserted his earlier criticism of the brand new president and have become an in depth adviser to the Trump White Home on overseas coverage. Underscoring the considerably altered relationship between the 2 former rivals, Rubio was within the operating to develop into Trump’s running-mate earlier than JD Vance in the end received that slot.
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