Marco Rubio, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of state, told a confirmation hearing Wednesday that he will adopt foreign policies that place American core interests foremost in a world of increasing dangers.
The former Florida Republican senator expected to face little opposition from Democrats and is considered one of Mr. Trump’s most significant nominations.
“Since the emergence of the modern nation-state over two centuries ago, countries acting based on what they perceive as their core national interest has been the norm, not the exception,” Mr. Rubio, the Florida Republican senator said in his opening statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “And for our country, placing the interest of America and Americans above all else has never been more relevant or more necessary than it is right now.”
The son of Cuban immigrants who arrived in Florida in 1956, Mr. Rubio said his Christian faith also will play a role in working at the State Department if he is confirmed.
Mr. Rubio said bipartisan claims that the end of the Cold War in the 1990s had produced the “end of history” were wrong.
The idea that all nations of the world would join the democratic, Western-led community and that foreign policy would serve a liberal world order and abandon national identity was “a dangerous delusion,” he said.
Unfettered trade at the expense of the U.S. economy diminished the American middle class, produced a crisis for the working class, collapsed industrial capacity and left supply chains in the hand of the country’s adversaries, Mr. Rubio said.
Mass migration fueled by a global zeal for maximum freedom of movement produced a historic crisis in the United States and threatens the stability of societies and governments around the world, he said.
In criticism of the current Biden administration foreign policy emphasizing allies and partners, Mr. Rubio said: “What good to our allies is America if it is not strong? And how can America help end the suffering of God’s children across the world, if it is not first prosperous here at home?”
China came under particular criticism from Mr. Rubio, a longtime critic of Beijing, who said the Communist regime was wrongly welcomed into the global order.
“And they took advantage of all its benefits,” he said. “But they ignored all its obligations and responsibilities. Instead, they have lied, cheated, hacked and stolen their way to global superpower status — at our expense.”
The hearing, as has happened with other Trump nominee confirmation hearings, was disrupted by three protesters who shouted criticism of Mr. Rubio, including one speaking Spanish.
The incident prompted Mr. Rubio to quip: “I get bilingual protesters.”
The hearing was set to consider U.S. policy changes under Mr. Trump in regions around the globe.
In the Western Hemisphere, Mr. Rubio said that despots and narco-terrorists are exploiting open borders to drive mass migration and traffic in women and children, while flooding the United States with fentanyl and violent criminals.
Russia, Iran and North Korea are now led by dictators sowing chaos and instability and are aligning with fundamentalist radical terror groups.The three nations also “hide behind their veto power at the United Nations and the threat of nuclear war,” Mr. Rubio said.
“The postwar global order is not just obsolete; it is now a weapon being used against us,” he said. “And all this has led us to a moment in which we must now confront the single greatest risk of geopolitical instability and generational global crisis in the lifetime of anyone alive here today.”
Creating a free world again out of the current geopolitical situation will be impossible without a strong and confident United States, he said.
Mr. Rubio said Mr. Trump began to build up American strength. His first four-year term resulted in no new wars, the diminishing of the ISIS terror group, the drone assassination of Iran’s Gen. Qasem Soleimani, and the Middle East diplomatic breakthrough known as the Abraham Accords.
Mr. Trump has a mandate from voters to produce a strong United States and to promote peace abroad and security and prosperity domestically,” Mr. Rubio argued.
“And if I am confirmed, keeping that promise will be the core mission of the United States Department of State,” he said.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.