Can Rubio save Trump's Iran deal?
Key takeaways
- It s not for nothing that the State Department once had the reputation of being the world s most illustrious diplomatic corps, the engine of America s soft power abroad, a consequential stepping stone to the presidency.
- Not only is Rubio an absentee secretary of State, he presides over a department that is a shadow of its former self.
- Rubio s absence from the grown-ups table has opened him up to embarrassing moments of disconnect with the president he serves — most notably on the Iran war, where the hawkish Rubio never had Trump s ear.
Why this matters: political developments that affect policy direction and public trust.
It s not for nothing that the State Department once had the reputation of being the world s most illustrious diplomatic corps, the engine of America s soft power abroad, a consequential stepping stone to the presidency.
Not so under President Trump, who has spent much of his two terms in office dismantling the department s core functions and reducing the government s foreign policy powerhouse into a passive lapdog for his directionless and self-destructive global agenda.
Not only is Rubio an absentee secretary of State, he presides over a department that is a shadow of its former self. More than 2,000 career diplomats have been laid off or forced out in Trump s second term so far. Add in Trump s first term, and the State Department has shed roughly 20 percent of its workforce.