Marco Rubio: one-time Russia hawk makes stunning U-turn under Trump
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, looked on as Donald Trump demanded more gratitude from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and accused the embattled leader of āgambling with world war threeā.
āYou right now are not in a very good position,ā Trump chided Zelenskyy during their confrontation in the Oval Office last week.
Throughout the heated exchange, Rubio, who previously ran for president as a staunch Russia hawk, sat silently on a yellow sofa. The image of a sullen Rubio quickly went viral online, with one social media user dubbing him āthe corpse on the couchā. One user wondered whether Rubio was ārecognizing in real time that he is on the wrong side of historyā, while another suggested he was ārealizing he sold his soul to the dumbest people on the planetā.
The dynamic even caught the attention of Saturday Night Live, which featured a dour Rubio, played by Marcello HernƔndez, in its opening sketch last weekend.
āOh man, look at Rubio over there, fully dissociating,ā James Austin Johnson, impersonating Trump, said. āHe looks like Homer Simpson disappearing into that hedge.ā
It was a stunning display from the man who once attacked Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, as āa gangsterā, āa thugā and āa war criminalā. Rubioās ascension to the top of the state department has seemingly forced him to embrace Trumpās āAmerica firstā agenda and abandon his long-documented support of Ukraine.
Here are eight of Rubioās past comments on Russia and Ukraine to show just how much his position has changed:
March 2014: āWe have to help the Ukrainian peopleā
After winning one of Floridaās Senate seats in 2010, Rubio became an outspoken advocate of Ukraine, particularly in the wake of Russia annexing Crimea in 2014.
āI think the first and most important thing we need to do is, we have to help the Ukrainian people and the interim government in Ukraine to protect its nationās sovereignty,ā Rubio said in a Senate floor speech.
Rubio reminded fellow senators that Ukraine had agreed in 1994 to give up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for a guarantee of its security from the US, the UK and Russia, warning that a refusal to defend Kyiv could prompt other vulnerable countries to reconsider nuclearization.
āI think the message this is sending to many nations around the world is, perhaps we can no longer count on the security promises made by the free world,ā Rubio said. āThis has implications around the world.ā
October 2015: ā[Putin] will be treated for what he is ā a gangster and a thugā
After launching his presidential campaign in 2015, Rubio pitched himself as the strongest candidate on foreign policy and promised he would go toe to toe with Putin once he entered the White House.
āAs soon as I take office, I will move quickly to increase pressure on Moscow,ā Rubio said at a campaign stop in Iowa. āUnder my administration, there will be no pleadings for meetings with Vladimir Putin. He will be treated for what he is ā a gangster and a thug.ā
January 2017: āIs Vladimir Putin a war criminal?ā
After Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, he nominated Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, as secretary of state. During Tillersonās confirmation hearing, Rubio grilled the nominee on his opinion of Putin, making it clear that he would not embrace Trumpās more conciliatory approach to Russia.
āIs Vladimir Putin a war criminal?ā Rubio asked Tillerson.
āI would not use that term,ā Tillerson replied.
āIt should not be hard to say that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal,ā Rubio said, āAnd I find it discouraging your inability to cite that, which I think is globally accepted.ā
March 2022: āWe will support [Ukrainians] as long as they are willing to fightā
After Russia began its wide-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Rubio called on the Biden administration to deliver a forceful message about its support for Kyiv.
āNo matter what, there always has to be a real, legitimate Ukrainian state that we have a relationship with,ā Rubio told MSNBC. āAnd I donāt know why we canāt begin to openly say we will support them as long as they are willing to fight, even if itās only an insurgency.ā
He also praised the sanctions issued against Russia since the invasion, saying, āI think whatās happened over the last week is really unprecedented. The Russian economy is headed toward collapse.ā
May 2024: Rubio attacks ātyrant Vladimir Putin, who once again stole an electionā
After Trump secured the Republican nomination for the second time in 2024, Rubio appeared to somewhat shift his views on foreign policy. In February 2024, he opposed a foreign aid package that included Ukraine funding because he said the US must secure its southern border before approving more money for Kyiv.
Despite that shift, Rubio still displayed a willingness to call out Putinās strongman tactics, such as when he issued a ācorrectionā to a Reuters social media post about the Russian presidentās most recent swearing-in ceremony last May.
āTyrant Vladimir Putin, who once again stole an election, uses his āinauguration ceremonyā as propaganda,ā Rubio said in response to the post. āAnother example of an authoritarian dictator masquerading as a democratically elected leader.ā
January 2025: āThere will have to be concessions made by the Russian Federation, but also by the Ukrainiansā
After Trump announced Rubio as his secretary of state nominee in November, the cabinet pick moved quickly to embrace the president-electās āAmerica firstā worldview. During his confirmation hearing in January, Rubio emphasized that Ukraine must accept āconcessionsā to bring about an end to the war.
āThere will have to be concessions made by the Russian Federation, but also by the Ukrainians and the United States,ā Rubio said.
Rubio, who once vowed to make Putin and his ācroniesā feel the heat of āUS financial pressureā, also predicted that āsanctions and the release of sanctionsā would āhave to be part of this conversation in terms of bringing about a ā¦ resolutionā.
February 2025: āI think [Zelenskyy] should apologize for wasting our timeā
Despite appearing visibly uncomfortable during Trumpās confrontation with Zelenskyy last week, Rubio defended the presidentās behavior and chastised the Ukrainian leader hours after the disastrous meeting.
āThere was no need for [Zelenskyy] to go in there and become antagonistic,ā Rubio told CNN. āI think he should apologize for wasting our time for a meeting that was gonna end the way it did.ā
When the CNN host Kaitlan Collins reminded Rubio that he once attacked Putin as a āwar criminalā, he told her, āAt this moment as secretary of state, my job working for the president is to deliver peace, to end this conflict and end this war ā¦ I think we should be very proud and happy that we have a president whose prime objective is not to get into wars but to prevent wars and to get out of wars.ā
March 2025: āItās a proxy war between nuclear powersā
Rubio further embraced Russiaās view on the war on Wednesday, when he told Fox News, āItās been very clear from the beginning that Trump views this as a protracted, stalemated conflict. And frankly, itās a proxy war between nuclear powers ā the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia ā and it needs to come to an end.ā
A spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, wholeheartedly agreed with Rubioās assessment, saying, āIt is absolutely in line with the position that our president and foreign minister have repeatedly expressed.ā
About The Author
