From DJ’ing a wedding on the weekend to manning the White House press podium like a boss, from velvet-gloved diplomacy in Europe to juggling the roles of secretary of state and NSA director in the middle of a war, Marco Rubio is the administration’s secret charm bomb.
President Trump rolls him out whenever he has a problem to solve.
Whether it’s filling in as national archivist, blowing cartel drug boats out of the water, DOGEing USAID to death or sitting as vice chairman of the “Saving College Sports” council, Rubio is Trump’s Mr. Fix-it.
His Tuesday stint filling in for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave, became a viral sensation on several fronts: his casual use of rap and hip-hop lyrics like “insane in the brain” (Cypress Hill) to describe the Iranian leaders and his warning that they “should check themselves before they wreck themselves” (Ice Cube) earned him cool dad credits with the press pool.
When a reporter asked him for his “DJ name” because a video doing the rounds on social media over the weekend showed him spinning tracks at a family wedding, Rubio dryly replied: “You’re not ready for my DJ name.”
He was at turns charming, self-deprecating, good-humored and eloquent, smoothly answering every question with useful information, effortlessly switching to Spanish if asked, and eliciting laughter from the room with occasional wisecracks.
Joking about his difficulty identifying reporters to call on, he said: “They gave me a little map. I don’t know where I put it, of the people here. Some of you had, like, red X’s. I’m kidding . . . that’s not true. “
Later, he quipped, “This is chaos, guys.”
Strait talk on Iran
He deftly framed the administration’s priorities in Iran, as America’s “favor” to the rest of the world, both in eliminating the nuclear threat and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
He projected calm and competence when he said Operation Epic Fury was finished and Operation Economic Epic Fury is wreaking havoc on Iran.
He explained why Americans should care about opening the strait when we don’t need the oil that transits it.
“Because ultimately these things have an impact on the global economy, which ultimately has an impact on our economy in the long term. That’s No. 1.
“No. 2, because if we live in a world where a rogue state like this Iranian regime is allowed to claim as a new normal control of our international shipping lane, it will not be long before you see that happen in multiple shipping lanes around the world . . .
“They would do exactly to the world with a nuclear weapon what they’re doing now with the straits . . . If they had a nuclear weapon, they’d close the straits and they’d tell the world, ‘What are you going to do about it? We have a nuclear weapon. We can attack you with it.’ ”
The son of Cuban exiles, he crisply articulated the case against Cuba: “[Cuba’s] economic model doesn’t work. And the people who are in charge can’t fix it. And the reason that I can’t fix it is not just because they’re communists. That’s bad enough, but they’re incompetent communists . . . And we have 90 miles from our shores a failed state that also happens to be friendly territory for some of our adversaries. So it’s an unacceptable status quo.”
Asked about his hopes for America, he delivered a mini stump speech: “It’s the same as it’s always been. I think it’s the hope we all share. We want it to continue to be the place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything — where you’re not limited by the circumstances of your birth, the color of your skin, or your ethnicity.”
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Rumors swirl for ’28
Rubio’s 50 minutes at the podium was a tour de force, and of course the 2028 buzz began immediately.
“Rubio’s Stint in the White House Briefing Room Sparks 2028 Presidential Candidate Chatter” was the headline in The Wall Street Journal.
“Marco Rubio gets presidential tryout in White House briefing room,” said The Hill.
“Rubio rising? Duel with Vance for 2028 heats up,” was Barron’s take.
“Marco Rubio heads to the Vatican as 2028 presidential buzz ramps up,” said CNBC.
It’s the same old game that Democrats and their media allies have been trying out for months to drive a chink between Rubio and Vance.
The president makes a bit of mischief himself, boasting that Rubio, 54, and Vice President JD Vance, 41, are the “unstoppable” dream team ticket for 2028, often without saying who would come first.
He likes to play the Apprentice game at his dinner table when he asks visitors, sometimes in front of both men — who do you like better as president: JD or Marco?
But both are aware of the allure to the media of pitting them against each other.
They are genuine friends who share the same raucous sense of humor and a devout Catholic faith, Vance as a convert and Rubio as a cradle Catholic who flirted briefly with evangelical Protestantism.
Former Marine Vance’s persona as an anti-war isolationist is at odds with Rubio’s more hawkish attitude. But they share more in common on that front than it would seem, neither having urged Trump to launch attacks on Iran yet both maintaining a united front with the president throughout the ups and downs of the conflict.
Vance told me in an interview on “Pod Force One” in October that Rubio is his “best friend in the administration.”
Friends with Vance
“I never want to wake up, and so far I’ve never woken up and thought to myself, ‘How do I make myself president of the United States?’ What I wake up and think to myself is, ‘How do I do a good job as vice president?’
“And I think Marco Rubio asks himself, ‘How do I do a good job as secretary of state?’ And that should be the question that each of us keeps on asking ourselves,” the vice president said.”
Rubio has explicitly ruled out challenging his friend.
“If JD Vance runs for president, he’s going to be our nominee, and I’ll be one of the first people to support him,” he said recently.
There are rumors that with his fourth child on the way, Vance has been telling confidants he’s not sure he will run, or that 2028 will be a tough race for Republicans, and he might wait until 2032, or he’s worried about being cast in the same impotent role in the campaign as Kamala Harris to Joe Biden.
Some say that Rubio should get first go because he’s 13 years older.
But polls consistently show that if Vance wants it, and Trump endorses him, it’s game over for Rubio and any other putative contenders such as Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz.
For Republicans, any future potential rivalry between Vance and Rubio is a good problem to have.
Unlike the sorry lineup of 2028 hopefuls on the other side, Republicans have an embarrassment of riches in their leadership class.
The post Miranda Devine: Marco Rubio is a rock star in the Trump admin – and making himself a serious candidate for prez in 2028 appeared first on New York Post.
