Marco Rubio's role in the Trump administration, explained

At a 2017 hearing on Capitol Hill, then-Sen. Marco Rubio described a dark, fantastical vision of life in America.

“Imagine if the United States had an executive branch that basically took over the Supreme Court and put political cronies on it,” Rubio said. “(Imagine it) canceled all funding and all function of the Congress, both House and Senate.”

Rubio was speaking about the situation in Venezuela. In that country, a strongman, Nicolás Maduro, had effectively dissolved the Legislature and canceled elections. Rubio denounced the move to authoritarianism.

Eight years later, Rubio is Donald Trump’s secretary of state at a pivotal moment. The president is remaking America’s global reputation with sweeping moves at home and abroad. His administration appears to be defying a federal court order on deportations. It’s promised to deport legal residents who disagree with America’s foreign policy aims. Rubio is not only cheering on Trump’s moves, he’s an active participant.

The United States is by no means Venezuela under Maduro. But critics say some of Trump’s actions are reminiscent of other countries' slides into autocracy.

Rubio’s detractors say he has evolved from a self-proclaimed defender of the rule of law to an opportunistic Trump apologist.

But supporters say Rubio’s always been motivated by his conviction in America. Right now, Trump is the defender of that vision.

“He was America first before that was cool,“ said U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean, one of Rubio’s top lieutenants in the Florida House in the 2000s. “That’s always been true with Marco.”

A Rubio political spokesperson redirected questions to a U.S. Department of State spokesperson, who did not respond to requests for comment.

Rubio over more than a decade earned a reputation as a serious foreign policy thinker in Washington. He was a key adviser to the first Trump administration’s foreign policy in Latin America and was unanimously confirmed in January as secretary of state by his Senate colleagues.

Some Senate Democrats say they regret that vote. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said when he voted to confirm Rubio, he assumed the Floridian would push back on some of Trump’s impulses.

“I thought ... when Donald Trump would come to him and say, ‘Help me move America closer to Russia’ ... Marco Rubio would stand up to him,” Murphy said on CNN in this month. “Rubio has not."

Rubio was in the Oval Office for an explosive meeting in February between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. At that meeting, Trump accused Zelenskyy of not being grateful enough for American aid in the fight against Russia.

Since then, Rubio has found himself constantly embroiled in Trump’s controversies.

Earlier this month, when District Judge James Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to stop the removal of more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador, Rubio appeared to make fun of the order. He reposted a message written on X by Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s president.

“Oopsie… Too late," Bukele wrote, followed by the “crying laughing” emoji.

On Thursday, at an event at New College of Florida, Trump’s top immigration official said the administration would not let judges stop future deportations.

When the Trump administration moved earlier this month to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent legal resident who was a vocal participant in protests critical of Israel at Columbia University, Rubio defended the move — promising more like it.

“When you apply to enter the United States and you get a visa, you are a guest,” Rubio said on CBS' Face the Nation. “If you tell us when you apply for a visa, ‘I’m coming to the U.S. to participate in pro-Hamas events,' that runs counter to the foreign policy interest of the United States.”

Khalil, a Palestinian who is married to a U.S. citizen, is not alleged to have materially aided Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group. But while a student at Columbia University, he participated in rallies critical of Israel, with whom Hamas is at war in Gaza.

“They did what they did to him because of his speech, and that’s unconstitutional,” said Tracey Maclin, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

Days after his arrest, the Trump administration accused Khalil of withholding information on his application to become a legal permanent resident. Khalil’s lawyers said the new allegations are a “weak” attempt to sidestep the First Amendment issues with the arrest.

And when the Trump administration moved to unilaterally end programs funded by Congress, Rubio was there to pick up the slack. In February, Trump announced he was dissolving the U.S. Agency for International Development — an organization Rubio had previously praised. Trump put the agency’s diminished portfolio under Rubio.

Trump’s comments about some of these moves have done little to lower the temperature for those worried about the growing power of the presidency.

“He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” he posted to X in February.

When the federal judge ordered his administration’s deportation flights halted, Trump called for his impeachment, earning a rare rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

Some legal scholars say Trump’s efforts to consolidate power over Congress and the courts constitute a crisis in the American political system. But Maclin said in his view, the country has not reached the point of crisis.

“‘Constitutional crisis’ is a term that gets bandied about far more often than it should,” Maclin said.

But much remains uncertain, said Stanley Fish, the presidential scholar in residence at New College of Florida.

American government depends on people’s willingness to adhere to the judgment of institutions like courts, Fish said.

“Once that trust and willingness disappears, we are in very uncharted and perhaps dangerous territory,” Fish said.

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