In late February, Secretary of State Marco Rubio quietly met with Elon Musk to debate the way forward for the State Division and what was left of the U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth.
The beforehand unreported assembly was cordial, some even say lighthearted. However the two males had some clear variations. Musk, the world’s richest man now serving as a prime adviser to President Donald Trump, wished main cuts — and quick — on the State Division. Rubio mentioned he was high-quality with large cuts, however he wasn’t inclined to hurry them by means of. He was already coping with the fallout of Musk acolytes’ speedy dismantling of USAID, to not point out an array of worldwide crises. He believed the adjustments at State ought to be extra thought-out and methodical.
That assembly ended with the 2 males on good phrases, in keeping with an individual conversant in the state of affairs and a Trump administration official near Rubio who described it to me. However final week, the 2 as soon as once more aired their variations, this time in entrance of Trump. The official near Rubio mentioned the second assembly, which included others within the Cupboard, was calmer than portrayed in the initial New York Times account. However the official didn’t dispute the substance of the report, which had the pair sparring over the variety of individuals being pushed out at State and Rubio making his case for how one can finest deal with the division’s restructuring. In that assembly final week, Musk reportedly accused Rubio of firing a Division of Authorities Effectivity staffer.
Given the various world challenges it’s tackling, “no one desires the State Division to be able the place USAID was, the place it had issue working,” the official insisted. (I granted the official and others interviewed anonymity to debate a delicate concern.)
For Rubio, although, the battle over the long run construction of the State Division isn’t nearly defending America’s potential to have interaction in diplomacy. It’s about defending what energy he has within the Trump administration.
That is, in spite of everything, a group of many rivals. Rubio is the chief U.S. diplomat, however an array of different Trump appointees are competing to form the administration’s overseas coverage, from Musk to a number of particular envoys. As Musk eyes his division, Rubio has realized he must each draw strains and stroll some very high-quality ones.
It doesn’t assist that Rubio’s previous overseas coverage views have incessantly clashed with Trump’s imaginative and prescient. It means Rubio is now taking stances at odds along with his fame, similar to slamming the overseas minister of Poland this week.
“He is on this awkward state of affairs,” mentioned Gerald Feierstein, a former profession diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Yemen. “He is doing issues that he essentially believes are unhealthy coverage and unhealthy steps. He is acquired to associate with it as a result of Musk and Trump are standing between him and his increased ambition of being president.”
I didn’t count on to put in writing this usually about Rubio (that is my third column on him in two months), and he’s removed from the one Cupboard member coping with blowback from strikes made by Musk and his aides. However Rubio is drawing uncommon curiosity as a result of USAID’s brutal takedown was so early in Trump’s time period, due to the nationwide safety implications of slashing the State Division and since he’s already seen as one of many weaker Trump appointees.
To treatment the final notion, Rubio has taken benefit of what the secretary of State’s perch presents — not the least of which is entry to a prepared press pool — to indicate he can rating wins for Trump.
He’s deeply involved in talks about ending Russia’s war on Ukraine; he has pushed, with some success, Panama to distance itself from China amid Trump’s threats of a Panama Canal takeover; and he has helped enforce Trump’s immigration crackdown. Already, he’s spent a major period of time on the street, carrying the Trump banner in all places from the Munich Safety Convention to Israel.
At instances, Rubio has appeared misplaced.
His couch-sinking silence as Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy helped encourage a “Saturday Night Live” parody. Nonetheless, Rubio has tried to dispel suspicions that he disagrees with Trump, occurring tv repeatedly to defend positions he would by no means have taken when he was a senator.
Rubio has even publicly supported dismantling USAID. However he didn’t have a lot say in it. By the point Rubio was named USAID’s appearing administrator, Musk, DOGE and Trump political appointee Pete Marocco had largely unraveled the establishment.
It was Rubio, although, who took a lot of the ensuing warmth from Capitol Hill, the courts and his personal workforce, whilst he by no means gained management of the USAID state of affairs. (He did, nevertheless, shield some applications, saving about 400 that DOGE wished to chop.)
The State Division is totally different — and Rubio is much less prepared to sacrifice it the best way he did USAID.
Rubio agrees, in precept, with main adjustments, together with workers reductions and shutting some diplomatic services. However he desires to restructure the division in a manner that satisfies Trump and retains Musk at bay however safeguards his foremost base of energy. If he lets Musk and DOGE remove large chunks of State and not using a severe technique, he’ll solely weaken the division and himself. Overseas officers attempting to know Trump administration dynamics are amongst these watching intently and asking individuals like myself if Rubio is the very best level of contact.
“Rubio desires to be a diplomat,” the individual conversant in the state of affairs mentioned. “Every little thing DOGE does creates issues for him by way of diplomacy.”
Though lists of consulates to shut and staffers to fireside have been circulating for weeks, Rubio nonetheless hasn’t acted, irritating Musk.
Some Rubio aides and folks on the Nationwide Safety Council tried final week to push out Marocco, who isn’t in DOGE however is a lead determine in dismantling USAID. Rubio, nevertheless, sided with different senior administration officers who wished to maintain Marocco, in keeping with the individual conversant in the state of affairs.
The official near Rubio denied there was any such try. Marocco’s group emailed me an announcement from him wherein he referred to as Trump and Rubio “historic patriots” and mentioned it was the “honor of a lifetime” to serve the pair to “reform and realign overseas help,” however he didn’t handle questions on his job.
The official additional urged endurance — a tough ask of U.S. diplomats who concern for his or her jobs and livelihoods.
“Good, substantive reforms take time,” the official mentioned. “The president’s been fairly clear that there should be important adjustments in the best way that the federal authorities is organized. I feel each Cupboard secretary goes about that in their very own particular manner to ensure these adjustments are sensible, they stick and that core capabilities and features are retained.”
The State Division declined to remark, however a senior official there burdened that Musk and Rubio have a “nice relationship” and are working collectively “to right the failures of the final administration.”
Musk didn’t reply to my request for remark.
Trump is attempting to appease all sides. Throughout final week’s assembly, he informed Cupboard members they get to run their businesses but in addition mentioned Musk would function an enforcer to make sure cuts happen.
The president additionally has insisted that Rubio and Musk get alongside simply high-quality. “ELON AND MARCO HAVE A GREAT RELATIONSHIP. ANY STATEMENT OTHER THAN THAT IS FAKE NEWS!!!” Trump posted this weekend on Truth Social.
Rubio and Musk at the moment are attempting to publicly present that’s true.
Rubio used social media to thank DOGE for slashing USAID’s applications, to which Musk replied that it was “good” working with Rubio. White Home spokesperson Karoline Leavitt famous to reporters that the pair attended dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday.
And Rubio and Musk took to social media this weekend to gang up on Radosław Sikorski, the overseas minister of Poland, a U.S. ally.
After Musk mentioned that Ukraine’s entrance line might collapse if he turned off his Starlink satellite tv for pc providers, Sikorski famous that his nation was paying for these providers and might need to search out different suppliers in the event that they have been turned off.
Rubio dismissed Sikorski as “making up” the menace and informed him to “say thanks” for Starlink. Musk piled on: “Be quiet, small man.”
Maybe beating up on widespread enemies — a gaggle that today consists of U.S. allies — is the glue that can bond Rubio and Musk collectively going ahead.
That mentioned, the secretary of State has some powerful decisions forward as he restructures his division. He has managed to slow-roll Musk on that entrance for now, however we’ll see how lengthy the compelled bonhomie lasts.
