The clown car Cabinet
Even 'Little Marco' towers above his fellow nominees
When Donald Trump announced this week that he would choose Marco Rubio as his secretary of state, it seemed for a brief moment that Trump might be making some kind of peace with the Republican Party he had shattered, humiliated, and reassembled. Yes, the "Little Marco" sobriquet that Trump gave Rubio eight years ago would be shadowing the Florida senator all the way to the State Department. But by refashioning himself as a Trump team player Rubio had regained some semblance of power and even dignity.
It looked like Trump had decided to take the win, and staff his administration with Capitol Hill players like Rubio and New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik. Rubio even gained an endorsement from the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, who seems to have understood that the country's best bet in the Trump II era was that the Cabinet would be staffed by people like Rubio.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Democrats push for ICE accountabilityFeature U.S. citizens shot and violently detained by immigration agents testify at Capitol Hill hearing
-
The price of sporting gloryFeature The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off this week. Will Italy regret playing host?
-
Fulton County: A dress rehearsal for election theft?Feature Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is Trump's de facto ‘voter fraud’ czar
-
Democrats push for ICE accountability
Feature U.S. citizens shot and violently detained by immigration agents testify at Capitol Hill hearing
-
Fulton County: A dress rehearsal for election theft?
Feature Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is Trump's de facto ‘voter fraud’ czar
-
‘Melania’: A film about nothingFeature Not telling all
-
Why the Gorton and Denton by-election is a ‘Frankenstein’s monster’Talking Point Reform and the Greens have the Labour seat in their sights, but the constituency’s complex demographics make messaging tricky
-
Trump links funding to name on Penn StationSpeed Read Trump “can restart the funding with a snap of his fingers,” a Schumer insider said
-
Trump reclassifies 50,000 federal jobs to ease firingsSpeed Read The rule strips longstanding job protections from federal workers
-
Is the Gaza peace plan destined to fail?Today’s Big Question Since the ceasefire agreement in October, the situation in Gaza is still ‘precarious’, with the path to peace facing ‘many obstacles’
-
Vietnam’s ‘balancing act’ with the US, China and EuropeIn the Spotlight Despite decades of ‘steadily improving relations’, Hanoi is still ‘deeply suspicious’ of the US as it tries to ‘diversify’ its options
