US President-elect Donald Trump is seen preferring Senator Marco Rubio to be his Secretary of State for the second term after snubbing fellow ally Vivek Ramaswamy. Sources add that the move is an act that will see Rubio become the first Latino to take up the diplomatic post in the United States.
Rubio, a key campaigner for the 2024 race for Trump, has a long political career and also played an essential role in this administration. A senator since 2011, Rubio is a very important figure: he is the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, which already makes him a shaper of U.S. foreign policy since long time ago, concentrating in special attention to issues relevant to countries such as China, Iran, and Cuba.
One reason he will be a strong candidate is because of his experience and also his proximity to the Trump administration regarding Ukraine views. Though he ran as a strong contender in the 2016 Republican presidential race, Rubio was unable to draw enough votes to secure the nomination.
Ramaswamy Snubbed for Rubio
Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran against Trump for the presidency before suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump, was, according to reports, in the running for a cabinet position. However, reports suggest that Trump is going to make Rubio his choice for this important role of diplomacy. This will mean the second Indian-American ally being replaced by Trump for a very critical role when Ramaswamy is concerned; the first such candidate being former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley. Haley had served under Obama in key roles of diplomacy long before but is apparently believed to have been skipped over by Trump because she has a tendency to criticize him frequently.
Rubio‘s Foreign Policy Stand and Shift in Stance Toward Ukraine
Rubio has always advocated a robust U.S. foreign policy and was extremely hawkish on most global issues, but it seems he is pretty flexible in reconciling his views with Trump–especially as relates to Ukraine. This senator became an ardent supporter of Ukraine until the moment when he actually voted against a $61 billion funding bill for Ukraine because of his concerns over immigration and need for the U.S. to focus elsewhere.
“I‘m not on Russia‘s side, but unfortunately the reality of it is that the way the war in Ukraine is going to end is with a negotiated settlement,” Rubio said in a recent interview. He believes that a negotiated solution will eventually end the war, and that the U.S. must ensure Ukraine is in a strong position in any future talks.
Ramaswamy Possible Cabinet Post
Meanwhile, Ramaswamy, who has been dropping hints about a possible slot in the second Trump administration, talks of “great options“ available to him and one of them is going to be the slot of homeland security head. Or he might look for Ohio politics that would be his next horizons in quest of the Senate seat, as J.D. Vance is proposed by the incumbent president to be his vice president.
Yet to be quite seriously interesting is the eventual makeup of Trump‘s cabinet, as this is still an open question that the president-elect continues to shape in preparation for 2024.
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