Secretary of State. Representative Administrator of the US International Development Agency. Acting archivists for the National Archives and the Bureau of Records. And now President Trump's interim national security adviser.
Like a Christmas tree decorated with shiny ornaments of all shapes and sizes, Marco Rubio accumulated four titles on the same day Trump declared office, from his confirmation as Secretary of State on January 20th.
It could very well be a record of modern history of the US government. And that adds to the immigrant success story that is the core of the story of Rubio, a former Florida Senator.
However, the title's spread raises questions as to whether Rubio can play a substantial role in the administration, especially if he juggles all these positions, especially under the president who has eschewed the traditional work of the government and appointed his businessman friend Steve Witkov as a special envoy to handle the most sensitive diplomacy.
Trump announced Rubio's latest position in a social media post Thursday afternoon. The president expelled Michael Waltz from his job as the White House national security advisor and Waltz's deputy, Alex Wong. In the same post, Trump said Waltz would now be his candidate to become the UN ambassador.
Rubio's appointment to yet another job was as if he had been cloned in a B-grade sci-fi film – suddenly, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce learned about it when reporters posted to her at regular televised article meetings.
“Yeah, that's the miracle of modern technology and social media,” Bruce said. “That's an exciting moment here.”
“I've seen him in the White House several times a week and seen his close working relationship with the president. They were clearly in an environment where they knew each other well,” Bruce said in an attempt to explain the events unfolding in real time.
The fact that Rubio is currently leading the four bodies is not only a sign of his trust placed on him by Trump, but also a close ties with veteran political operative Susie Wills, who is Trump's chief of staff.
Of course, having four jobs also creates more practical problems. Will Rubio get a pay bump? Does he have time to fly around the world to do diplomacy? How will he delegate his duties?
There is a precedent – some kind of thing. From 1973 to 75, Henry Kissinger served as two jobs, Rubio's Secretary of Duty and National Security Advisor, in an experiment that was considered a failure. In the current Trump administration, two officials, FBI director Kash Patel and Secretary of the Army, are interim directors of the Alcohol Department, cigarettes, firearms and explosives, and are serving as more prominent posts.
However, looking outside the US for example may be more relevant. China's leader Xi Jinping, the Communist Party's general secretary, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, is still reaching the tally of Rubio.
The Senate unanimously confirmed Rubio as Secretary of State. However, he went into other jobs under controversial circumstances. Trump fired Principal Colleen Shogan in early February for obvious retaliation against the National Archives and the Bureau of Records. Agency leaders had raised concerns about Trump holding a box of classified documents at his Florida home after taking office in 2021, but Saint was not involved in the episode.
Four days before Shogan's firing, Rubio announced he was the proxy administrator for USAID as Trump's billionaire adviser Elon Musk and State Department political appointee Pete Marrocco had taken over the agency. While members of Marocco and Musk's government slavery task force have done daily tasks of reducing agents to their shells, cutting contracts and firing thousands of employees, Rubio has signed up for the move.
Rubio has moved the remnants of the agency to the State Department. Last week he published a chart to reorganize the planning department, indicating that he maintains the USAID Administrator title.
Even before Trump appointed US diplomat/archivist/advocacy managers as interim national security advisers, some analysts pointed to the issue of Rubio, who holds all of these positions.
“It's never ideal to have two (or three) roles at once. Commanding government agencies and programs is an important task that requires attention and focus,” he said in March a post about the citizens' sites for responsibility and ethics of the government's watchdog group Washington. “However, Rubio's current position is uniquely concerned.”
Author Gabriella Cantor pointed to a clear conflict of interest. The archivists are supposed to ensure that other federal agencies, including two Rubio, also keep key records. Now, with the addition of the White House National Security Council, that's thorny.
Regarding Rubio's pay (or pay) issues, the State Department did not respond when asked Thursday afternoon.
Michael Crowley contributed to the report.
