1. Home
  2.  » 
  3. Behind The "News"
  4.  » 
  5. Inside the White House and Washington's Beltway
  6.  » Trump expected to name pro-Israel Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of state

Times of Israel – Jan 12, 2024

US President-elect Donald Trump is expected to tap Senator Marco Rubio (above) to be his secretary of state and Rep. Michael Waltz as national security adviser, The New York Times reported Monday, pushing the emergent cabinet in a hawkish, pro-Israel direction.

Three people familiar with Trump’s thinking on Rubio said the president-elect could still change his mind, but appeared settled on the Republican Florida senator, who was also on the shortlist to be Trump’s running mate, the Times said. The appointment of Waltz, a third-term Republican congressman from Florida, is final, according to two people familiar with the decision cited in the report.

Both men have notably hawkish views on China, which they see as a threat and challenge to US economic and military might.

The two will be key architects of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, with the incoming US president having promised to end the wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East and avoid any more American military entanglements.

Rubio and Waltz will join the strongly pro-Israel New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, whom Trump named as his ambassador to the United Nations on Monday.

Rubio, arguably the most hawkish option on Trump’s shortlist for secretary of state, has in past years advocated for a muscular foreign policy with respect to America’s geopolitical foes, including China, Iran and Cuba. In 2016, Rubio slammed then-candidate Trump for pledging neutrality on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Over the last several years Rubio has softened some of his stances to align with Trump’s more isolationist views, but remains a staunch supporter of Israel.

He has also accused US President Joe Biden of insufficient support for Israel as it wages war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which started with Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 abducted; Hezbollah began launching rockets and drones at Israel the next day. In April, after Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel, Rubio said the Biden administration was working to prevent an Israeli response because it was “still catering to its anti-Israel, antisemitic base.”

Continues …