Secretary of State Marco Rubio is finding himself in a sometimes uncomfortable spotlight in his high-risk, high-reward place as a Trump administration Cabinet official.
Rubio is not a dyed-in-the-wool member of the MAGA movement, having run against President Trump in 2016.
Some in MAGA World had hoped to see Ric Grenell tapped as secretary of State instead. An image of Rubio sunken into an Oval Office couch as Trump sparred with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky went viral, with some suggesting the secretary was trying to disassociate amid the chaos.
But Rubio has proven his loyalty to Trump and emerged as one of the most crucial Cabinet officials in the early weeks of Trump 2.0 as he seeks to carry out the president’s high-stakes foreign policy agenda. And Trump has made a point of signaling his secretary of State has his full support.
“If you’re in this administration, [Trump] trusts, respects and knows you, otherwise you wouldn’t be there,” said Matt Terrill, who served as chief of staff during Rubio’s 2016 White House bid. “It’s not like Secretary Rubio evolved overnight to be someone who’s a big supporter of Trump and his agenda.”
Some in Trump’s orbit eyed Rubio with skepticism when he was being considered for secretary of State. After all, Rubio and Trump had been fierce, at times personal rivals during the 2016 campaign. Rubio has also built a reputation as a foreign policy hawk, particularly toward Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, putting him at odds with Trump’s dealmaker approach that blurs the lines between ally and adversary.
But Rubio did not have a sudden awakening on Trumpism in recent months.
He worked closely with the administration during Trump’s first term, including with Ivanka Trump on expanding the child tax credit. As a senator, he was a prominent surrogate for Trump during the 2020 campaign, and again on the trail in 2024. Rubio was one of three finalists to be Trump’s running mate before the job went to Vice President Vance.
Now, Rubio finds himself in a pressure cooker.
He’s at the center of some of Trump’s most prominent and most controversial proposals. It’s Rubio who has had to defend Trump’s idea to have the U.S. take control of Gaza, removing Palestinians there in the process.
It’s Rubio who is in meetings with Ukrainian and Russian officials trying to deliver on Trump’s promise to end the war in Ukraine.
It’s Rubio who must work diplomatic channels as Trump muses about annexing Canada and Greenland and taking control of the Panama Canal.
“Good luck, Marco. Now we know who to blame if anything goes wrong,” Trump said during a joint address to Congress last week.
“No, Marco has been amazing, and he’s going to do a great job. … You know, he was approved with, actually, 99, but the 100th was this gentleman,” Trump said, gesturing toward Vance. “So, let’s assume he got 100 votes. And I’m either very, very happy about that or I’m very concerned about it.”
So far, there has been no daylight between Trump and Rubio. The secretary of State has also curried favor from his boss in ways specific to Trump, sparring with foreign officials and critics on social media and arguing the president’s efforts to broker peace are worthy of a Nobel Prize.
His commitment to carrying out Trump’s agenda has prompted some Democrats to express remorse over their votes to confirm him. Democratic frustration concerning Rubio’s alignment with Trump could actually serve to bolster the secretary’s standing with the president.
There is always the chance Trump sours on Rubio, as he did with his first secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. But Rubio has known Trump for years, learned how to work with the president and is in lockstep on his agenda.
“The reality is foreign policy is in a spotlight like it’s not always in previous administrations,” said Terrill, the former Rubio aide. “When you have this much going on at the foreign policy stage, it throws the secretary of State into a bigger spotlight.”
Trump gets personal with Congress
President Trump is using a personal touch to push his agenda through Congress.
The president has been working the phones behind the scenes to persuade and, if needed, pressure lawmakers into supporting legislation during the first 50 days of his term. That includes making calls to Republicans as GOP leaders scramble to get enough votes to keep the government funded.
Trump aides have long touted the president’s accessibility and personal relationships with lawmakers, and those are being put to the test with exceedingly narrow GOP majorities in both chambers.
The president hosted members of the House Freedom Caucus at the White House last week. That conversation laid the groundwork for the conservative group to back the continuing resolution (CR) on Tuesday.
Trump has made other direct calls to lawmakers on the fence, including Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.).
“President Trump is a master dealmaker, and he is always engaged in negotiations on Capitol Hill,” a White House official said in a statement to The Hill. “He is calling Members of Congress to strongly urge support of the CR, which will keep the government open and ensure that the administration can continue its critical work.”
The conversations around the CR follow other personal calls from Trump to Republican lawmakers.
Trump called Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) directly amid uncertainty over whether she’d back a GOP budget measure to advance his agenda. The congresswoman, who denied a report that Trump had yelled at her, eventually voted in favor of the measure.
And as Trump was exiting the chamber following a joint address to Congress last week, multiple Republican lawmakers could be heard thanking the president for taking their call.
Trump advisers have long viewed the president’s ability to forge direct and personal relationships with lawmakers as a political boon. They credited the phone calls and conversations he had with Republicans for the early slew of endorsements Trump built up early in the GOP primary last year.
“Even in his first term, he was the most accessible person,” said one Trump ally. “It used to be very hard to meet with the president. Trump obviously dropped that barrier.”
