If you look at the structure of the announcements, there does appear to be a strategy at play; yes, including the likelihood of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State.
Using the announcement of Steven C. Witkoff to be Special Envoy to the Middle East, I’ll try to put it together.
If President Trump pulls Marco Rubio out of the Senate, he opens up the position of Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI). Rubio would love the opportunity to load his presidential aspiration resume with Secretary of State, for later use. However, this also opens the opportunity for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to appoint an interim senator who would be more MAGA-minded, trustworthy and loyal (dare I say Gaetz).
With Rubio removed from the equation of the IC problem, the issue becomes mitigating (think neutering) the Secretary of State from undermining the Trump Doctrine; which, as you know, is the key Trump foreign policy approach using economic power combined with diplomacy.
President Trump has long expressed being sick and tired of U.S. mid-east policy, endless wars, endless spending etc. President Trump in term-1 created the Abraham Accords to establish long-term peace and stability in the region, as a countermeasure to all the prior administrations stirring shit up there. Essentially, the Abraham Accords create peace, get us out and allow policy to focus on more pressing foreign concerns, vis-a-vis China.
President Trump constrains Rubio in the mid-east by putting Steven C. Witkoff as Special Envoy to the Middle East. Essentially, neutering any intervention that might be launched by the IC agenda supported by the neocon wing of Rubio. Trump does this directly from the White House.
That puts Rubio’s role as Secretary of State focused on Europe and Asia, both regions where President Trump has already outlined the benefits of the Trump Doctrine in creating a peace deal in Ukraine and economically neutering Chinese aggression (like he did in North Korea).
While many of us do not like the thought of Rubio as Secretary of State, the value in removing Rubio from the SSCI is quite significant.
While the Rubio announcement has not been officially made, the likelihood of it increases with this appointment of Steven C. Witkoff to be Special Envoy to the Middle East. It just makes sense.
Secretary Rubio becomes the Maître d’ to a newly branded restaurant with a private dining room he is not permitted to enter. Meanwhile, CIA Director John Ratcliffe is the new chef in the back of the house, changing the menu and charting a new, fresher culinary experience. It becomes likely everyone gets the same menu and experience now.
I can find cautious optimism in this strategy. Frankly, getting Rubio out of the Chair position is a pretty big deal.
Whole new meaning to "Senate was the target."
My fave memories of Trump vs. Rubio were (1) when "L'il Marco" kept repeating the same sentence/answer over and over during a debate (so bad that he sounded like a robot on "repeat") and Trump called him a "choke artist" - LOL! And (2) that time when Marco was doing a "rebuttal" speech and he kept going off camera to get more water and gulping it down. Trump's imitation of Rubio pouring water bottles all over the stage making fun of him was EPIC!
What got my blood boiling about Marco though was when he called Trump a "con artist" during the 2016 campaign. He'll never come back from that in my book - EVER. I'm disgusted at the thought of Rubio having the SoS title even for one millisecond, regardless of strategy or reason. I don't trust him even one little bit. And I shutter to think of a Trump 2.0 administration doing the "keep your enemies closer" or "let's expose them by putting them in the spotlight" play again.
I want to see (and we all DESERVE) Pres. Trump's new team being die-hard Trump loyalists, 100% MAGA, and America First ONLY! We're already stuck with a (supposedly) "reformed" TDS Never-Trumper as VP (which still makes my blood boil), whom I'll never trust no matter what he does. Please God, hear our prayers and keep any other disloyal saboteurs AWAY from our beloved President!
I wonder what you think of say, Steve Bannon by that logic. Like, wouldn't you be pissed at Trump (and forever!) for firing a guy who was/is still 100% MAGA!? Shouldn't you be?
Lil Marco DID have a background as a neocon; and we all definitely shuddered at the idea of him in a Trump 2.0 Admin back in 2020! ... However, from then to now Rubio has cleaned his rep a bit. He's at least set himself apart by projecting fierce loyalty to Trump when he could.
Don't know exactly how he performed in his role as Senate Intel chair, but I do know that job is one of the MOST powerful in all of Congress. So it might be MORE of a priority to bounce him from that seat via a cabinet position. If that's the plan then it is VERY LIKELY Trump is working super closely with Gov. DeSantis to replace Rubio with someone VERY SPECIFIC. (Please let it be GAETZ! 😅🤟)
Do you also despise DeSantis? He had a way more ugly political clash with Trump than silly little Rubio ever did. How about Ramaswamy? He ran against Trump too. Should we be distrustful of him as well? I am legitimately asking your take.
My take?
RELAX, MAN.
JD VANCE has proved out. Dude has a lot of solid ideas and he is quite talented at speaking and politicking. I think he is **100% no doubt loyal to Trump regardless of what he said years ago, long before he was in politics (very important IMO). He is going to be x100 times the VP Judas Pence was.
I'd be shocked if that doesn't happen; plus the guy seems like an open book, as opposed to deeply hidden (closeted? 🤭) Pence.
You've just got to trust that things are happening how they are supposed to and that Trump has a razor sharp plan he is executing swiftly and decisively. The time for bullshit is long over with.
We had the exposure phase and the few remaining assclowns stick out like sore thumbs.
We pushed through 2020 and the awakening phase and the people (or a large enough majority of Americans shall we say) are now fully engaged and along for the ride.
I really believe they had a number they knew they would need (mandate) and fell just short of it in 2020. We woke up millions since then, converted a good deal of them, and left the rest to cringe at their own party even if they still wouldn't join up.
The truth of the situation is even the people who still think: Orange man = Hitler are prepared and expecting major structural change to our government. Biden and his circus have beclowned and deflated them severely, and there is much apathy in what remains of their ranks. That was shown in this election as well. People were way too disappointed and numb to want to hit the streets in protest.
Now we have people literally jumping out of their skin the moment Dave McCormick doesn't immediately support Rick Scott. More than ever before people are getting directly into the action to DEMAND that the promises made during campaigns are kept WITHOUT EXCEPTION. It's like the War Room audience on steroids at this point.
I'd argue that when folks got MOST engaged in the aftermath of 2020. That time period was an absolute shit show. You saw things like Parler as the #1 downloaded app for BOTH iOS and STOP THE STEAL becoming the fastest growing Facebook group EVER, only to be immediately and mercilessly shitcanned. WTF?!!? 🤣
The difference is that now we have all but eliminated the rampant, partisan censorship but the overwhelming fervor from our side is just as strong or maybe more after adding millions more supporters. Twitter has become a massive force multiplier to this end.
Consequently RINOs are now swiftly exposed and deposed. They've been reduced and culled to such a point that Kamala and Liz can't even fake being on different sides of the aisle anymore.
A lot of that had to do with Elon ... another guy people have been on the fence about. Hell, Bannon called out Elon constantly up to now, but now Elon is a hero for doing all he has, in spite of his China connections and other flaws.
The lesson here is don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We built our own strong coalition government and destroyed their coalition of lying RINOs and super-wokes.
And what is coming will be a whole hell of a lot better than anything we have seen in many decades. A few rogue RINOs compared to the Paul Ryan-Cocaine Turtle BEAR TRAP they set up for Trump in 2016 is nothing. But it won't be perfect, because things never are, and you have just got to be cool with that.
Sorry. I didn't mean to single you out. I just want to share my thoughts on the subject.
Trump himself said that appointments and having the right people around you is probably the most important thing you can do as POTUS. He understands the gravity of the situation and what has to happen here.
I am skeptical of Noem and Rubio (and their ilk) too; but there is LOGIC behind choosing them and they will not be anchors capable of hindering the agenda, because we are in full ATTACK mode now and thus Trump wouldn't risk that.
Trump said on Rogan that no one was "reticent" to serve in a cabinet position during his first term; ANY of these people would have pushed their grandma overboard wearing cement shoes to get one of those posts. The same is true now, but Trump is a thousand times stronger politically and won't be attacked from every angle.
They don't have the political capital anymore and TONS more MAGA aligned folks are here to fight back now. To me, they simply don't have enough allies left to get a top executive job and suddenly morph ('they have changed their shape!' scene in Borat, of you know you know... 😅🤣) and start gumming things up or mucking about successfully.
This entire process must be done with MAXIMUM SPEED because of the small window of time and ANY resistance is going to be removed with extreme prejudice.
Additionally they have RUINED their credibility in the media; no one is paying attention to them as evidenced by this election. They can't just do more stupid Russiagate shit now, they are the villains and defy the will of the people when they try crazy shit to impeach or whatever is next.
Most of Congress were burned badly or removed for making the wrong choices during those scandals. Trump is not to be fucked with, and so many have capitulated. They are politicians and self preservation is their top priority; they will go along to get along.
Lastly just consider that Secretary of State is a different position under different Presidents. Killary was tasked with many nefarious activities and wielded much power under Obama; Trump however, seems to prefer personally meeting with foreign leaders about critical matters in his first term. Maybe Rubio is a good choice because he wants him mostly working in Latin America, using Rubio's pro-war affinities a little like how he did with Bolton.
Heck, maybe Rubio and Noem will both lose their jobs when the DECLAS comes and they are implicated along with the many other snakes. Who knows.
But at this stage, fear not, POTUS is insulated and protected 100%. Trust the plan I say. Sorry for the long post, I am not just rebuffing your comment, trying to hit on other points too.
Is Rubio a WH, BH, DS or just plays his own tune and pisses whomever off just because that's how he get his jollies?
Neocon.
I think so too . Gut instinct ,, never trusted him !
Yeah he is a tough nut to crack , I never liked or trusted him , but don’t really know him just a gut instinct . As long as he can be taken out for Matt Gaetz to-get in and then later little Marco as DJT called him can be fired .
He’s bought and sold AIPAC, so Isreal first.
Hopefully being positioned to fail.
Rubio has a "sweat problem". It's actually a medical condition whereby a person sweats profusely. Dated a guy like that once, it was bad.
Remember Rubio's infamous Republican response to Obama's SOTU speech? Totally bombed; could't handle the pressure. Trump isn't wasting time moving the 5D chess pieces around.
https://youtu.be/19ZxJVnM5Gs?si=NPXgqAdKmP6wjy0m
Great reading of the board.
Will there be more attempts to get regional countries to sign the Abrahamic accords?