Daniel Dresner
Appearances
Consider This from NPR
Marco Rubio pivots to America First diplomacy
Oh, yeah, it seems pretty obvious. The Rubio that's shown up is the one that will defer to Trump's America First image, the one that will close embassies and consulates, the one that, according to widespread reports, has yet to really push back on any of Trump's foreign policy instincts. Does that surprise you? Not really.
Consider This from NPR
Marco Rubio pivots to America First diplomacy
Marco Rubio did articulate a more democracy-promoting, human rights-promoting foreign policy vision when he ran for president in 2016, and he lost. And he not only lost, but Donald Trump humiliated him in a lot of ways on the campaign stage. Rubio is a lot of things, but one thing is a political survivor, and he survived Trump's first term.
Consider This from NPR
Marco Rubio pivots to America First diplomacy
and has managed to get into the good graces of Trump over the last 10 years. And the way he survived is by altering his worldview. He's demonstrated tremendous ideological flexibility and by doing so was, you know, considered for vice president and eventually was given the secretary of state position.
Consider This from NPR
Marco Rubio pivots to America First diplomacy
And I'm sure Rubio thought of this as potentially a stepping stone to run for president again, or certainly, you know, an action that would give him the prestige of traditional secretaries of state.
Consider This from NPR
Marco Rubio pivots to America First diplomacy
I think there are two things about Rubio that make it particularly noticeable for him. The first is that as that Oval Office meeting demonstrated, he has the world's worst poker face. It was obvious that this was not something he wanted to see happen. Anyone looking at the body language could tell why that is. And because Rubio's smart enough to know what the implications were of Trump
Consider This from NPR
Marco Rubio pivots to America First diplomacy
berating Zelensky in the Oval Office. You know, to be fair, Rubio did vote against Ukraine aid back in 2024 because of claims that he wanted to prioritize focus on the southern border.
Consider This from NPR
Marco Rubio pivots to America First diplomacy
Not much. It doesn't end well. Secretaries of state, in some ways, whether they are considered influential or not, is in part a function of the relationship and trust they have with the president. This is how James Baker was considered an outstanding secretary of state under George H.W. Bush, for example. or George Shultz to some extent under Ronald Reagan.
Consider This from NPR
Marco Rubio pivots to America First diplomacy
On the other hand, secretaries of state who have been considered on the outside looking in, like let's say Colin Powell during George W. Bush's first term, generally are not given high marks by historians. And so the problem that Rubio has is not just that he has little influence. It's that if he tried to exercise any influence –
Consider This from NPR
Marco Rubio pivots to America First diplomacy
Trump would probably tweet just a long list of scorn headed towards Rubio or fire him.
Consider This from NPR
Marco Rubio pivots to America First diplomacy
What it means for policy is that don't look to Marco Rubio as an indicator for what foreign policy is going to look like. Marco Rubio will be the endorser. He will try to perhaps offer a patina of rationality for why Trump is doing what he's doing. But the truth is, is that in this administration, foreign policy is being run from the White House and in particular the Oval Office.