When Marco Rubio first launched his presidential marketing campaign in 2015, the then-senator championed a tricky stance on Russia and decried earlier efforts by United States officers to reset and bolster ties with Moscow.
Ten years later, Rubio – now America’s prime diplomat – sat throughout from his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Saudi Arabia this week in a bid to revive relations between Washington and Moscow.
A overseas coverage hawk who as soon as referred to as Russian President Vladimir Putin a “thug”, Rubio is now overseeing seismic shifts within the US strategy to the world below President Donald Trump.
Rubio is seen as a traditional politician, with conventional conservative views. He’s now serving in an administration whose public face is a tech billionaire with no earlier political expertise who’s seeking to radically hole out federal companies.
The brand new secretary of state, in the meantime, finds himself pushing Trump’s unconventional worldwide agenda: opening as much as Russia, taking up the Panama Canal, buying Greenland, and “proudly owning” Gaza.
As the previous senator spearheads Trump’s overseas coverage, who’s the highest US diplomat and what drives him?
International stage, ambition
Analysts say Rubio is motivated by a conviction that the US ought to play the main function on the world stage in addition to private ambitions that noticed him search the presidency within the 2016 elections and rise via the ranks of the Republican Celebration.
“He has a really conventional, hawkish view of America’s function on this planet, however we’ve additionally seen methods during which he’s merely disbursed with long-held views since changing into secretary of state,” mentioned Michael Hanna, US programme director on the Worldwide Disaster Group assume tank.
Approving the gutting of worldwide help programmes and the US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) is one obvious instance of Rubio’s personal shifts.
Rubio has lengthy been an advocate of help programmes, selling them as a aspect of American comfortable energy on this planet.
However Rubio, like different Republicans named to key positions within the Trump administration, has fallen in lockstep with the president, embracing his “America First” coverage.
Hanna prompt that Rubio, 53, could in the end have his eyes on the White Home after Trump leaves workplace.
“I believe it’s ambition. Being a high-profile senator is one factor, and being the secretary of state is one other when it comes to your profile, notably on a worldwide stage,” he informed Al Jazeera.
‘The trauma of exile’
The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio comes from humble beginnings. His father was a bartender, his mom a cashier and resort cleaner.
Though his dad and mom moved to the US earlier than Fidel Castro’s revolution within the Nineteen Fifties, he grew up in Miami’s Cuban neighborhood alongside exiles who fled the communist authorities.
The staunchly anti-Castro constituency has been veering to the best of the US political spectrum over the a long time, serving to flip Florida right into a Republican stronghold.
In his 2012 memoir, An American Son, Rubio means that he acquired his early political orientation and sense of patriotism from the Cuban immigrants he grew up round.
“I knew how the trauma of exile – disbelief, guilt, a way of loss – had formed their lives and my very own,” he wrote.
“I knew that their love, born of gratitude for the nation that had welcomed them and inspired their aspirations, and the loss that had introduced them right here, had made them vigilant of their look ahead to something that they thought might threaten America … That is the tradition that formed my youth.”
Creator Manuel Roig-Franzia writes in his 2012 ebook, The Rise of Marco Rubio, that his household’s roots and rising up in Miami’s Cuban neighborhood formed “his political id”.
All through his profession, Rubio has advocated adversarial insurance policies, together with robust sanctions, in direction of left-wing Latin American leaders who he views as autocrats or hostile to the US.
Through the administration of US President Barack Obama, Rubio was a vocal opponent of the detente with Cuba.
Rubio has additionally been a supporter of extra hardline insurance policies towards the federal government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
In 2019, he appeared to problem a blunt “regime change” risk to Maduro.
Amid a spike of tensions between the US and Venezuela, Rubio posted a sequence of photographs of slain and imprisoned dictators to social media after addressing the Maduro authorities.
One publish featured a bloody picture of late Libyan chief Muammar Gaddafi, who was executed by rebels in 2011.
Rubio, a first-year senator in 2011, had referred to as for an much more forceful US intervention towards Gaddafi in the course of the Libyan rebellion as US and NATO fighter jets bombarded authorities positions there.
Pax Americana
Stephen Zunes, a global research professor on the College of San Francisco, mentioned Rubio’s hawkish worldview of “may makes proper” has develop into outstanding amongst Republicans who got here of age within the Nineteen Eighties in the course of the Ronald Reagan years with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“I believe he desires to see a Pax Americana,” Zunes says, referring to the idea of world peace ushered in by American dominance.
Rubio prompt as a lot himself in 2015, writing about his imaginative and prescient for US overseas coverage in International Affairs. “The primary and most vital pillar of my overseas coverage will likely be a renewal of American energy. That is an thought based mostly on a easy reality: the world is at its most secure when America is at its strongest,” he wrote.
A presidential candidate on the time, Rubio outlined three pillars for his overseas coverage: Army energy, defending free commerce and “ethical readability” in “defending freedom”.
Such language harkens again to the presidency of George W Bush within the 2000s when Rubio was in his early political profession.
The Florida politician has all the time expressed fondness for Bush. He wrote in his memoir that the primary congratulatory telephone name he acquired after being elected to the US Senate in 2010 was from the previous president.
In 2015, Rubio defended the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq at a time when there was close to consensus in Washington that it was a mistake.
“The world is a greater place as a result of Saddam Hussein will not be there,” he informed Fox Information.
The opposite Bush
Rubio was simply 27 when he was first elected to public workplace as a West Miami commissioner in 1998.
In lower than 13 years, he lept from municipal politics to the US Senate. In between, he served for eight years within the Florida Home of Representatives, main the chamber between 2006 and 2008.
All through his meteoric rise, Rubio had a strong ally – Florida’s then-Governor Jeb Bush.
Jeb – the brother of former President George W Bush and son of former President George HW Bush – noticed Rubio as a gifted younger politician.
When Rubio turned State Home speaker, Jeb gifted him a golden sword that he held up in entrance of his fellow lawmakers with a broad smile. Jeb proverbially anointed Rubio as a “conservative warrior”.
Accounts range on whether or not the 2 have been shut associates or mere allies, however publicly, they’ve expressed admiration for each other over time. And Bush noticed one thing in Rubio early on; he contributed to his first native election marketing campaign.
But it surely wasn’t simply Bush. Florida politicians who interacted with Rubio when he was beginning to forge his approach in politics say it was obvious that he was going locations.
Congressman Carlos Jimenez informed NPR final month that the primary time he heard Rubio converse early in his profession, he knew that he “has it” – referring to one thing particular.
“Marco Rubio not solely exemplifies the American dream. I might let you know that he exemplifies the Republican Celebration,” Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart added.
2016 presidential run
From the second he burst onto the nationwide stage, Rubio – a younger, eloquent, combative politician with a compelling private story from a rising demographic base – appeared to tick all of the bins for a rising star within the Republican Celebration.
Rubio made it to the Senate with such fanfare that lower than two years after his election, the marketing campaign of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney thought-about him for the vice presidential spot in 2012.
When 2016 got here round, Rubio threw his personal hat right into a crowded ring of Republican candidates looking for the presidency.
His interactions with two rivals – his ally, Bush, and his future boss, Trump – stood out.
Rubio put previous political ties apart when he tried to occupy the institution lane within the major that was seen as reserved for Bush.
The 2 exchanged assaults on the talk stage and marketing campaign path, however Rubio’s blows got here off as extra environment friendly, displaying his willingness to dispense with outdated allies to get forward.
“I thank God every single day that George W Bush was president, however Jeb has no overseas coverage expertise,” Rubio mentioned in February 2016.
Bush’s marketing campaign was already struggling on a number of fronts, and Rubio could have helped end it off.
The Floridian additionally got here after Trump at a time when different candidates have been avoiding confrontations with the sharp-tongued businessman.
Rubio referred to as out the now-president for lack of overseas coverage expertise as properly. He described him as a “con artist” and mocked his “small fingers”.
The true property mogul already had Rubio, at one level his closest rival within the primaries, in his crosshairs.
He branded him “Little Marco Rubio” and ridiculed him at each flip, charging that the then-senator wore an excessive amount of make-up, drank water excessively and sweated rather a lot – amongst different insults.
Regardless of the non-public nature of the rivalry, Rubio endorsed Trump when he turned the nominee and backed him once more early within the 2024 marketing campaign season regardless of his authorized troubles.
By endorsing Trump, Rubio appeared to acknowledge the president’s Republican takeover and selected to work inside the social gathering system.
The distinction between his strategy to Bush and Trump exhibits Rubio’s pragmatic facet, being keen to assault outdated allies and work with earlier foes.
Requested this week after the talks with Russian diplomats whether or not he thinks Moscow desires peace, Rubio prompt that the world is extra complicated than the premise of the query.
“I don’t view diplomacy that approach. I believe diplomacy in the end relies on actions. It’s based mostly on commitments which are stored,” he mentioned.
Professional-Israel advocacy
Whereas Rubio prompt that the trail ahead for US coverage on Russia and its invasion of Ukraine is complicated, days earlier, he painted a black-and-white picture of the Center East battle.
Whereas assembly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Rubio heaped reward on Israel, calling it a “free enterprise democracy”.
“If there have been extra Israels within the Center East, extra nations like that, the world can be a safer and a greater place,” he mentioned.
Conversely, the highest US diplomat referred to as Iran the “single biggest supply of instability within the area”.
He additionally praised Trump’s proposal to ethnically cleanse Gaza as “daring”.
Zunes, the professor, mentioned Rubio has “excessive” views on Israel-Palestine and different areas of the world, however he was nonetheless seen as an inexpensive decide within the Trump administration. The Senate confirmed Rubio in a 99-0 vote in January.
“If some other individual was president, [Rubio] can be thought-about fairly excessive. It’s simply that compared to a few of these different appointees, he’s seen as pretty cheap,” Zunes mentioned.
Rubio has an extended historical past of pro-Israel advocacy. He has launched measures to penalise corporations that boycott Israel over its mistreatment of Palestinians and rebuked Latin American leaders important of the US ally as “pro-Hamas”.
Revering and centring Israel has develop into a virtually unquestionable tenet within the trendy Republican Celebration.
Conservatives have lengthy seen Israel as an extension of US energy within the Center East, particularly in the course of the Chilly Battle when the Soviet Union sided with Arab governments within the battle.
The rise of evangelicals – who again Israel for theological causes – as a significant Republican constituency cemented right-wing help for Israel over the previous a long time.
Altering views
Whereas Rubio could share Trump’s views on Israel-Palestine, his historical past of advocacy for internationalism, overseas help and a number one US international function could not bode properly with what Trump appears to wish to obtain – a nationalistic withdrawal from the world stage and unilateral pursuit of perceived US pursuits.
Nonetheless, the secretary of state seems to have been revising his views.
Rubio was as soon as a stalwart advocate of help to Ukraine, however final 12 months – as scepticism across the US function within the warfare grew in right-wing circles – he proclaimed that “the US is funding a stalemate in Ukraine”.
Not too long ago, he even spoke of an inevitable “multipolar world” – which seems to contradict his earlier statements concerning the want for the US to be the supreme international energy.
It stays unclear whether or not Rubio is within the midst of an ideological transformation or simply doing what the job requires.
As secretary of state, Rubio should channel Trump. He doesn’t set overseas coverage; he conducts it on behalf of the president.
Zunes mentioned Rubio knew coming into the job that he needed to advocate for positions he doesn’t imagine in.
“I believe he felt that he might have a minimum of some affect in that place, that he might persuade the president on just a few issues, might steer the coverage in a route that he thought can be higher,” he mentioned.
