The Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a passionate speech this Friday in support of President Donald Trump during the CPAC Circle Retreat and Gala held at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, which was seen as a rebuttal to rumors suggesting he was about to leave the cabinet.
The speech, lasting just over 90 seconds, came just three days after the Republican setback in the midterm elections on November 3, where the Democrats regained control of both chambers of Congress.
That outcome sparked speculation about Rubio's political future, with reports from The Independent and Bloomberg indicating that the official was considering stepping down to prepare a presidential bid in 2028.
In front of the attendees at the conservative event, Rubio firmly defended Trump and appealed to his privileged position in the cabinet to endorse the president: "I see firsthand, every day, that this is a man who wakes up every morning with one singular priority: you, our country, and your future".
The Secretary of State, who since September simultaneously holds the position of National Security Advisor —being the first official to serve in both roles since Henry Kissinger— focused much of his remarks on justifying Trump's confrontation with Iran.
The most important thing a president can do for a country is to keep it safe, and there are people in the world who want to destroy it, who want to destroy our way of life, Rubio stated, before contrasting Trump's attitude with that of his predecessors: He was elected to tackle the difficult issues. It would have been very easy to do what multiple presidents before him did: ignore the Iran issue and leave it for the next one.
Rubio was adamant in justifying the administration's stance on the Iranian nuclear program: «We cannot live in a world where the most radical and terrorist regime on the planet possesses a weapon of mass destruction».
The conclusion of his speech was a clear declaration of loyalty: “He did it for you. Not for himself, nor for anyone else. He did it for you and for our country. That is why I feel so honored to be your Secretary of State.”
The post-electoral scenario in which the speech took place is significant. The Democrats secured the Senate and the House of Representatives on a night that shifted the balance of power in Washington, taking seats in states that have historically been Republican, such as Texas, Kansas, and South Carolina.
In that context, rumors about a possible exit of Rubio from the cabinet multiplied. Both the White House and the Department of State flatly rejected them: the Deputy Assistant Secretary Dylan Johnson described them as "totally unfounded fake news based on invented anonymous sources," while a spokesperson for the White House referred to them as "false and unfounded conspiracy theories."
Rubio denied the rumors to The New York Times with a straightforward statement: «Working for President Trump until the end of his term has always been my plan».
During the same event at Mar-a-Lago, Trump praised Rubio again as "the best Secretary of State" and repeated his recurring joke about dropping him by parachute over Cuba to "solve" the situation on the island, a joke he had already made at a rally in Texas in October and before the UN General Assembly in September.
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