If you look at the structure of the announcements, there does appear to be a strategy at play; yes, including the likelihood of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State.
Using the announcement of Steven C. Witkoff to be Special Envoy to the Middle East, I’ll try to put it together.
If President Trump pulls Marco Rubio out of the Senate, he opens up the position of Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI). Rubio would love the opportunity to load his presidential aspiration resume with Secretary of State, for later use. However, this also opens the opportunity for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to appoint an interim senator who would be more MAGA-minded, trustworthy and loyal (dare I say Gaetz).
With Rubio removed from the equation of the IC problem, the issue becomes mitigating (think neutering) the Secretary of State from undermining the Trump Doctrine; which, as you know, is the key Trump foreign policy approach using economic power combined with diplomacy.
President Trump has long expressed being sick and tired of U.S. mid-east policy, endless wars, endless spending etc. President Trump in term-1 created the Abraham Accords to establish long-term peace and stability in the region, as a countermeasure to all the prior administrations stirring shit up there. Essentially, the Abraham Accords create peace, get us out and allow policy to focus on more pressing foreign concerns, vis-a-vis China.
President Trump constrains Rubio in the mid-east by putting Steven C. Witkoff as Special Envoy to the Middle East. Essentially, neutering any intervention that might be launched by the IC agenda supported by the neocon wing of Rubio. Trump does this directly from the White House.
That puts Rubio’s role as Secretary of State focused on Europe and Asia, both regions where President Trump has already outlined the benefits of the Trump Doctrine in creating a peace deal in Ukraine and economically neutering Chinese aggression (like he did in North Korea).
While many of us do not like the thought of Rubio as Secretary of State, the value in removing Rubio from the SSCI is quite significant.
While the Rubio announcement has not been officially made, the likelihood of it increases with this appointment of Steven C. Witkoff to be Special Envoy to the Middle East. It just makes sense.
Secretary Rubio becomes the Maître d’ to a newly branded restaurant with a private dining room he is not permitted to enter. Meanwhile, CIA Director John Ratcliffe is the new chef in the back of the house, changing the menu and charting a new, fresher culinary experience. It becomes likely everyone gets the same menu and experience now.
I can find cautious optimism in this strategy. Frankly, getting Rubio out of the Chair position is a pretty big deal.
