Europe is hoping for Rubio - and could be bitterly disappointed

Berliner Morgenpost Europe is hoping for Rubio - and could be bitterly disappointed Dirk Hautkapp • 1 hour • 3 minutes reading time It doesn't take much to fall out of favor with Donald Trump as a cabinet member. A nuance that doesn't correspond to the general lines of the overpowering president - and the trouble can start. Rex Tillerson, former ExxonMobil oil manager and Trump's unconventional choice for the State Department during his first presidency, contradicted his boss behind closed doors, for example on the nuclear deal with Iran. Later, the gnarled Texan blurted out the word "idiot" in a small circle, aimed at Trump. After just 13 months, the "secretary of state" lost his job; he was fired via tweet. Could Marco Rubio, the incumbent chief diplomat of the USA, face a similar fate? Four weeks after starting work, Europeans in particular are preoccupied with this question. Here, diplomats in Washington confirm, Rubio "has a lot to gain because he wants to preserve the transatlantic alliance and not destroy it." The former Republican senator from Florida is "not a gambler," "knowledgeable and serious," and "appealable" to arguments that rarely appear in Trump's America-alone-and-first hustle and bustle. For example, the Europeans' desire to be involved on an equal footing in the exploratory talks in Riyadh between Russia and the USA on a peace agreement in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Other Trumpians, above all military advisor Keith Kellogg, have recently expressed their opposition. Rubio, on the other hand, has publicly emphasized that both Ukraine and Europe will be involved when things get serious. Rubio also relativized the impression created by Trump that the war will end very quickly. "We still have a long way to go before we reach a possible peace agreement," he said in an interview at the weekend. How much influence does Rubio have on the design of the process - and the outcome? Trump has put a "team of rivals" at Rubio's side. In addition to National Security Advisor Mike Walz, Middle East Representative Steve Witkoff is also on board in Saudi Arabia. Witkoff is considered the "gray eminence". The billionaire and Trump confidant recently played a role in the release of an American who was imprisoned in Russia for drug possession. It remains to be seen whether Rubio and Wittkopf will pull together. Diplomatic insiders in Washington see Rubio as gagged. MAGA supporters consider him suspect because he understands the views of the "globalists". In addition, there are special envoys who, with Trump's tolerance, "will get involved" in the Secretary of State's area of ​​work. If Rubio is marginalized and his dissatisfaction with this becomes public, this could be the beginning of the end. Especially since Richard Grenell is waiting in the wings, a man who acted as Trump's quasi-Secretary of State over a year ago. The Californian, who is revered as a snob in the MAGA audience, was always in the thick of things as the "President's Special Envoy for Special Missions" when Rubio appeared at the security conference. In Washington, bets are pending that Grenell will succeed Rubio within two years. A prospect that most Europeans dread.