In his second time period as president, Donald Trump has crammed main positions in authorities with cronies and sycophants who’ve scant {qualifications} for the roles they maintain. Fox persona Pete Hegseth as secretary of struggle, freaky anti-vaxxer Robert Kennedy Jr. operating the Division of Well being and Human Providers, podcaster Kash Patel on the FBI — these are simply three prime examples.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave the impression to be an exception. Within the U.S. Senate, he developed sufficient gravitas to make him a severe contender for the Republican Social gathering’s presidential nomination in 2016. In fact, in that marketing campaign he was drawn into Trump buffoon land when he and the eventual nominee received right into a juvenile alternate. Trump razzed Rubio about his top by dubbing him “Little Marco,” and Rubio retorted by asserting that Trump’s small palms have been a sign of diminutive measurement in his manly tools.
Nonetheless, when Trump picked Rubio to run the State Division, he stood out among the many gaggle of goons becoming a member of the administration. He really knew one thing about international coverage and had stable credentials as a foe of authoritarians, akin to Russia’s homicidal kleptocrat, Vladimir Putin.
Now, although, Rubio has been made to appear to be simply one other doofus within the clown automotive. Trump despatched Steve Witkoff, one in every of his wealthy actual property buddies, to Moscow to conjure a deal to finish the struggle in Ukraine. Witkoff, who admits to ignorance about issues like historical past and international affairs, came back with a plan that would give the Russians nearly everything they want, in need of a red-carpet welcome, reward baskets and spa remedies in Kyiv. The plan’s verbiage additionally seems to have been poorly translated from Russian, suggesting that Putin roughly dictated the entire thing.
The Trump administration proceeded to lean onerous on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, demanding that he conform to the deal earlier than Thanksgiving. Zelenskyy politely declined and European leaders, akin to French President Emmanuel Macron, have been aghast that the USA can be pushing for Ukraine to capitulate to Putin’s ruthless aggression.
A number of U.S. senators stated Rubio informed them privately that the “American” plan was only a Russian “want record.” When that little bombshell hit the information, Rubio shortly claimed that the senators have been flawed about what he informed them and that Witkoff’s doc was, certainly, the official American place. That meant one in every of two issues: Rubio had both informed the reality to the senators and was now mendacity about it, or no matter he had stated in non-public, he was now pimping for a scheme that, amongst different dastardly parts, would give Putin an enormous chunk of the nation he invaded, restrict the dimensions of the Ukrainian military and ban Ukraine from becoming a member of NATO.
Now, as he all the time does, Trump has backed off from the peace plan deadline and Rubio is claiming Witkoff’s shenanigans have led to actual progress in negotiations to finish the struggle. Which will or will not be true, however Rubio has not come out of this brouhaha trying like a severe participant.
He simply seems to be like Little Marco.
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