President Donald Trump has a habit of turning his opponents into allies, and that’s precisely what he’s done with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who now holds several key positions in the new Trump administration.
In 2016, then-Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was in the infamous 17-man primary field with Trump. At a February 2016 presidential campaign event in Georgia, Rubio told the crowd that Trump was a “con artist,” promising to do “whatever it takes” to prevent him from gaining “access to the nuclear codes of the United States of America.”
He also defended his comparison of Trump to a “third-world strongman” in the New York Times on CNN, saying, “For years to come, many people on the right, in the media, and voters at large are going to be having to explain and justify how they fell into this trap of supporting Donald Trump because this is not going to end well one way or another.”
These attacks were brought back to the surface in 2025 when rumors circulated that Rubio would be tapped as Trump’s Secretary of State. “How could Trump trust a man who vehemently opposed him in the Republican primary?” But even after all these years, these people still don’t seem to realize that Trump knows how to turn adversaries into friends almost better than anyone else. (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)
Since joining the new Trump administration, Rubio has not only supported and worked to implement Trump’s agenda but also seen his image among Republican voters completely reborn. He was no longer a Trump critic but an essential administrative workhorse, willing to do whatever it takes to realize the voter mandate.
Shortly after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began working on slashing fraud, waste, and abuse at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Trump tapped Rubio on Feb. 3 to be the agency’s acting administrator. Then Trump fired Archivist of the United States Colleen J. Shogan on Feb. 7 and quickly added another title to Rubio’s resume: Acting Archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). (ROOKE: If You’re Looking For Evidence Of The Media Screwing Over America, Look No Further)
For most, three jobs would be enough. However, Trump wasn’t done leaning on Rubio, who had shown himself to be a loyal ally. Former National Security Adviser Mike Walz was ousted from his position after the media storm surrounding the leak exposed operational chats from high-ranking U.S. officials using the Signal app. Trump nominated Walz as his new Ambassador to the United Nations, a position previously planned for New York Rep. Elise Stefanik.
Still, Trump could let the NSA position remain vacant, so once again, he turned to Rubio.
While the Secretary of State is an important position within the federal government, Rubio’s becoming Trump’s Acting National Security Adviser significantly shows how much Trump trusts him. This position makes Rubio Trump’s top advisor on national security issues. He is responsible for advising Trump on domestic, foreign, and military policies, coordinating national security activities, and managing the decision-making process on major security matters. (ROOKE: Some Universities Are Digging Their Heels In — The Trump Administration Is Sharpening Its Axe)
Rubio is now the Trump administration’s Secretary of State, Acting Administrator of USAID, Acting Archivist of the United States, and Acting National Security Adviser. In less than a decade, he went from calling Trump a con-artist to being one of the most important people in his administration.
Like many in the media and politics, Rubio didn’t understand why Trump was elected in 2016. He didn’t see the change that was happening in middle America. The old version of DC politics was dying. Americans wanted closed borders, a booming economy, and access to the American Dream again.
But he clearly sees that now. Underneath the four administrative hats Trump has given Rubio to wear, he put on himself one that says MAGA.
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