Marco Rubio getting more pushback from protestors than Senators during confirmation hearing

Marco Rubio. Image via AP.

Florida’s senior Senator appears to have a smooth path toward Foggy Bottom.

That’s the major takeaway from the early part of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for President-elect Donald Trump’s Secretary of State position.

Rubio positioned himself as someone willing to commit to an overdue reconsideration of how America’s strategic adversaries and competitors are seen, and garnered bipartisan praise even before he began to speak.

In his intro, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott lauded the “exceptional nominee” whose family moved from Cuba as an “incredible asset” for the Trump administration who is “clear-eyed” about threats and willing to hold communist regimes and others accountable.

“Marco will always put America’s best interests first,” Scott said.

Ranking member Jeanne Shaheen wanted Rubio’s hearing to happen as quickly as possible so American embassies can be “fully staffed,” and the New Hampshire Democrat noted the “good working relationship” she’s had across the aisle with the Senator in her remarks.

Near the four hour mark of the meeting, Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine said he was happy Rubio was the nominee, noting their work together over the years and that Rubio was “extremely well prepared.”

It wasn’t all kumbaya from the more radical elements of the general public though. In the opening minutes, demonstrators made their presence known.

As Rubio contrasted the “global order” forged at the end of World War II with today’s eroded dynamic that threatens America and leverages “adversaries and rivals” and “jihadists,” a protester decried “forever war ever since.” Soon enough, that would be followed by a second, Spanish-speaking demonstrator.

“I get bilingual protestors,” Rubio quipped.

Turning to matters of substance, Shaheen pressed Rubio on protecting the North American Treaty Organization (NATO).

“The NATO alliance is a very important alliance,” Rubio said, but wondered if America should have a “primary defense role” in the alliance.

“We have to have alliances. But we have to have alliances with strong, capable partners,” Rubio said, noting that American largesse has funded European “safety net” social programs as our taxpayers have shouldered their burdens.

Rubio also clarified a Ukraine position, saying as does Trump “has to end and it should be the official policy of the United States that we want to see it end,” and that a negotiated solution is inevitable.

“There have to be concessions made,” he said, by both Russia and Ukraine.

Rubio said the Chinese Communist Party presents a unique danger to the United States as “the most potent and dangerous near peer adversary this nation has ever confronted.

“They have elements that the Soviet Union never possessed. They are a technological adversary and competitor and industrial competitor, an economic competitor, geopolitical competitor, a scientific competitor now. in every realm. It’s an extraordinary challenge. It’s one that I believe will define the 21st century,” he said in response to a question from Nebraska Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts.

“If we don’t change course, we will live in a world where much of what matters on a daily basis, from our security to our health, will be dependent on whether the Chinese allow us to have it or not,” Rubio added.

Rubio also addressed the Middle East, saying he is “hopeful” that hostages taken from Israel more than a year ago are returned, with a “six-week transitional period of international cooperation” helping to bring peace.

“There are opportunities in the Middle East that weren’t there 90 days ago,” Rubio said.

These “factors that we can build on” could secure Israel’s security and other regional aims, he added.

“You cannot coexist with armed elements at your border who seek your destruction and evisceration as a state,” he argued

Palestinian governance is another variable, he noted.

Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons wondered how Rubio would deal with “special envoys,” such as Ric Grenell. He said he’d worked with most of them before and expected to work with them constructively in the new administration.

Rubio also addressed Iran.

“I don’t know of any (other) nation on earth in which there is a bigger difference between the people and those who govern them than what exists in Iran,” he said.

Mexico was also a topic.

Rubio noted U.S. and Mexican economic interests are “deeply intertwined,” adding that “violence at the border” has to be addressed from cartels, which are “vertically integrated” and which pose threats to Mexican sovereignty.

Cuba, which is “collapsing,” also has a choice per Rubio: to “open up to the world” or to “triple down” and “be the owners and controllers of a 4th World country.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, meanwhile, discussed business ties between the Trump organization and “governments in the Middle East.”

“And so I guess my question to you is a pretty simple one: Do you see how this fundamentally compromises your diplomatic efforts, do you have an issue, will you raise an issue with the president about his growing financial connection with the governments that you’re going to be negotiating with?”

Rubio noted that Jared Kushner is a “private citizen” and spoke on the importance of Saudi Arabia to take a role in “post-conflict stabilization” in the Israel-Gaza conflict. He added that what family members of Trump’s do in business have no impact in international diplomacy, dismissing the conflict of interest canard from the Connecticut Democrat.

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This piece will be updated as the hearing continues.