Trump taps foreign policy hawk Marco Rubio to lead US State Department | Donald Trump News

Ending days of speculation, United States President-elect Donald Trump has named Florida Senator Marco Rubio to head the State Department under the new administration.

The choice of his former political rival had been rumored for days and signals the new government's commitment to a hawkish foreign policy.

A Cuban American known for his tough views on China and his unwavering support for Israel, Rubio would be the first Hispanic American to serve as Washington's top diplomat if confirmed to the post.

Marco is a highly respected leader and a powerful voice for freedom, Trump wrote in a statement announcing his choice Wednesday. He will be a staunch defender of our nation, a true friend to our allies, and a fearless warrior who will never back down in the face of our adversaries.

In an article on X, Rubio said he was honored by the trust President Trump had placed in me.

Under the leadership of President Trump, we will bring peace through strength and always put the interests of Americans and America first, he added.

Leading the U.S. State Department is an enormous responsibility, and I am honored by the trust President Trump has placed in me. As Secretary of State, I will work every day to carry out his foreign policy agenda. Under the leadership of President Trump, we will bring peace

Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 13, 2024

Trump also named former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, a powerful position that sits atop the nation's spy agencies and acts as the president's top intelligence adviser.

I know Tulsi will bring to our intelligence community the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career, defending our constitutional rights and securing peace through strength, Trump said in a statement.

Gabbard is a veteran who served more than two decades in the National Guard and was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. But she doesn't have the typical intelligence experience of former officials. She sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 based on a progressive agenda and her opposition to U.S. involvement in foreign military conflicts.

After leaving the Democratic Party, she became increasingly critical of President Joe Biden and his administration and became popular among conservatives, often appearing on far-right television and radio shows, where she became known for her support of isolationist policies and her disdain for wokeness.

President-elect Donald Trump and former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard embrace, joined by Tucker Carlson, on stage during a campaign event sponsored by the conservative group Turning Point USA. [Carlos Barria/ Reuters]
From little Marco to Secretary of State

Since his election to the Senate in 2010, Rubio has developed a reputation for holding hawkish views toward U.S. adversaries such as China, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. He has also strongly supported Israel's war in Gaza, telling a peace activist last year that Hamas was 100% responsible for the deaths of Palestinians in the enclave.

I want them to destroy every element of Hamas they can get their hands on, Rubio said during a confrontation with Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink, in December.

These people are vicious animals who have committed horrible crimes, and I hope you publish this because that is my position.

Rubio currently serves on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Foreign Relations Committee.

His relationship with Trump has changed significantly since the two men first faced off during the 2016 presidential primary, and Rubio appears to have adapted his views on issues such as the Ukraine war and immigration policies to Trump.

In 2016, Trump mocked Rubio's physical stature, calling him Little Marco. For his part, Rubio ridiculed his rival, calling him Small Hands Trump.

Compared to his future boss, Rubio is more of a traditional foreign policy interventionist, advocating a muscular approach to foreign conflicts while Trump's foreign policy has focused on avoiding military interventions abroad.

This has sometimes prompted Rubio to publicly criticize Trump's foreign policy, including in 2019 when he accused the then-president of abandoning the U.S. military effort in Syria before it was fully completed.

Rubio is leading a group of like-minded Cuban Americans in Congress, seeking to push U.S. foreign policy in Latin America in a more conservative direction.

The tyrants of Havana, Caracas and Managua will not sleep today, wrote a fellow Cuban-American Republican from Miami, Rep. Carlos Gimenez, in an article on X. Their days are numbered. Their time is up.

Align with Trump

However, in recent years, experts say, Rubio has softened his stance to align with Trump.

Rubio is a flexible and pragmatic politician who has adapted to President Trump's rise to power, Paul Musgrave, an associate professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera.

In the early months after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, for example, Rubio used social media to fervently rally American support for Ukraine. He called Russian President Vladimir Putin a killer and questioned his sanity, a significant departure from Trump's sometimes deferential approach to the Russian leader.

In recent interviews, Rubio has suggested that Ukraine should seek a negotiated settlement with Russia, and he was one of 15 Republican senators to vote against a military aid package for Ukraine passed in April.

But some Trump loyalists view Rubio with suspicion.

Al Jazeera's Shihab Rattansi reported that there was an outcry among some of the president-elect's strongest supporters over Rubio's nomination.

He is viewed with a lot of suspicion among the Trump base, but at the same time he has certainly charmed Donald Trump, Rattansi said.

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