Marco Rubio, once a fierce Trump debate opponent and now President Trump’s Secretary of State, is building momentum — and credentials — to be the 2028 Republican presidential nominee. To wit:
- When Rubio hosted a press conference in the White House recently, he shone like none other and kept the audience wrapped up in his hands.
- When he was in Europe a while back, he assuaged the Trump-phobic leaders assembled to hear a diatribe but instead received reassurances.
- When he was in China recently, he seemed more honest and confident than our own national chief executive, Donald John Trump.
- When he speaks of Cuba, as a refugee he sounds the right notes.
Frankly, I find Rubio more fit for the nation’s highest office than our Vice President, JD Vance. Vance seems to have morphed his experience as a Marine Corps press spokesperson into a political career. Rubio, although obviously also a politician, seems to have a better first-hand grasp of what’s going on in the world.
What’s interesting is that Rubio was banned from China in 2020 because of his outspoken criticism of the People’s Republic’s stance on Hong Kong democracy and on the enslavement of the domestic Muslim Uyghurs. To allow him into the country with Trump, Chinese officials changed the official translation of Rubio’s name. (Two translations for foreigners’ names are not unusual.)
When Xi Jinping and his cronies raised the possibility of war with the U.S. if we support Taiwan’s continued independence should China make a military move, Trump chose silence over defending U.S. standing policy. Rubio, on the other hand, when interviewed, stood by U.S. support of the island republic.
“U.S. policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today and as of the meeting that we had here today. It was raised. They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position, and we move on to the other topics,” Rubio said.
I say Rubio for 2028 GOP nominee. Leave Vance to his expanding book and child empire.
