‘There will be changes’: Marco Rubio confirmed as US Secretary of State donald trump news

The cabinet of United States President Donald Trump has begun to take shape, with its first nominee confirmed in the role: Florida Congressman Marco Rubio.

On Tuesday, Rubio, 53, was sworn in as secretary of state, the nation’s chief diplomat and the highest-ranking role in the Cabinet after the vice president and the president.

The ceremony followed a rare unanimous vote in the Senate to promote him to the position.

All 99 members voted in favor: the only vote missing in the 100-seat chamber was Rubio’s, as he had to step down as senator to take up his new position.

Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony, Vice President J.D. Vance described Rubio as “a necessary departure from a generation of failed foreign policy.”

Vance said, “He’s a bipartisan solution-seeker, a guy who can actually get things done, but is a conservative of great principle and outlook.” “And I think, more than anybody I’ve met in Washington over the last few years, Senator Rubio, I think, understands the specific priorities of President Trump.”

But what does Rubio vow to do in his new role? And what did Tuesday’s ceremony reveal about the newly appointed diplomat? Here are three takeaways.

Rubio defends State Department employees

In his first remarks as Secretary of State, Rubio praised the federal employees who conduct day-to-day operations at the U.S. State Department, the executive agency he is now charged with running.

“It is an extraordinary honor and privilege to be here, to serve in this role – to oversee, frankly, the greatest, most effective, most talented, most experienced diplomatic corps in the history of the world,” Rubio said.

“I would also like to thank the local staff, the citizens of those countries who work with us,” he said. “Without their help, without their support, it would be impossible for us to conduct our mission.”

Rubio’s comments come at a sensitive time for federal civil servants, with Trump coming into office with a number of executive actions aimed at reining in government bureaucracy.

Just a day earlier, on the first day of his second term, Trump had threatened to fire employees he considers loyal to his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.

“To immediately take control of the massive federal out-of-control bureaucracy, I will immediately enact a regulation freeze, which will prevent Biden bureaucrats from regulating,” Trump told supporters gathered at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC.

“Most of those bureaucrats are being sacked. They walked away. All these should be there, but some people come secretly.

In contrast, Rubio approached his new role by defending the State Department’s work and praising its staff.

“There is no other agency in the world, no other agency in our government that I would want to lead because of the talent gathered in this room and the people watching from around the world,” he said.

Rubio vows to pursue ‘America First’

Nevertheless, Rubio once again reiterated his firm commitment to pursuing Trump’s “America First” policy platform, and warned that there would be changes at the State Department as a result.

“There will be changes, but the changes will not be catastrophic. They are not meant to be punitive,” he told the audience at his swearing-in ceremony, which consisted largely of State Department employees.

Rubio outlined a vision where the State Department plays a leading role in government affairs.

“Sometimes, the State Department is kind of pushed into a secondary role because another agency might move faster or seem more adventurous or more creative,” Rubio said.

“It’s not your fault. But we’re going to change that. We want to be at the center. We want to be at the core of how foreign policy is made.”

The former senator explained that the department’s role moving forward would be more inward-looking, trying to craft policies that would make America “stronger or safer or more prosperous.”

He advised staff to view Trump’s election to a second term in November as a mandate to center America’s priorities.

“Our job around the world is to make sure that we have a foreign policy that advances the national interests of the United States,” he said. “I hope that every country on earth will pursue its national interests,” he said.

balancing ferocity with peace

But despite his united tone on Tuesday, Rubio faced protesters when he sat down for a Senate hearing about his nomination last week.

“Little Marco, keep your hands off our country!” A protester shouted, denouncing America’s involvement in a “forever war.”

Another Spanish-speaking man criticized radical US policies abroad: “Marco Rubio’s sanctions are killing children in Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela.”

Rubio shrugged off the interruptions with light-hearted comments. “I get bilingual protesters,” quipped the lawmaker, a child of Cuban immigrants. He would be the first Latino to serve as Secretary of State.

But the protests were a reminder of Rubio’s reputation as a foreign-policy advocate, known for his aggressive stance toward American adversaries abroad.

A particular target during Rubio’s confirmation hearing was China, which has sanctioned the Florida politician for his support of Hong Kong autonomy. He told senators last week that he believed the US-China rivalry “will define the 21st century”.

“The Communist Party of China, which leads the PRC (People’s Republic of China), is the most powerful and dangerous nearest rival this country has ever had,” Rubio said.

He said the threat from China dwarfs the threat from America’s Cold War rival, the Soviet Union.

“They have elements that the Soviet Union never had. They are our technological rival and competitor, an industrial competitor, an economic competitor, a geopolitical competitor, a scientific competitor – now in every sector.

Yet, despite his aggressive attitude, Rubio told State Department staff on Tuesday that he planned to follow through on Trump’s promises to deliver world peace.

“That’s what we try to do: promote peace around the world because it’s in our national interest,” Rubio said. “Without peace, it is difficult to be a strong nation, a prosperous nation.”

However, he acknowledged that “there will be struggles”. In explaining how he views American policy abroad, he repeated rhetoric popular among the Christian right: namely, that America is founded on a religious mandate.

“Ultimately we are a nation founded on powerful principles. And that powerful principle is that all men are created equal because our rights come from God, our Creator – not from our laws, not from our governments,” Rubio said.

“We hope the whole world can live under it one day. And we will always, always remain strong defenders of that principle.”