Secretary of State Marco Rubio gets glowing endorsement from White House chief of staff on ‘Pod Force One’: ‘Born for this’
Marco Rubio — a top contender for the 2028 Republican nomination who is currently juggling four official roles in President Trump’s administration — was showered with praise by White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in the latest episode of “Pod Force One,” out Wednesday.
The secretary of state, interim national security adviser, acting administrator for the US Agency for International Development and acting head of the National Archives and Records Administration was just “born for this,” Wiles told Post columnist Miranda Devine in the podcast interview.
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Every week, Post columnist Miranda Devine sits down for exclusive and candid conversations with the most influential disruptors in Washington. Subscribe here!
Rubio, 54, “has just been quickly assimilated over here in his NSC [National Security Council] position,” she shared. “There’s not one who I would say is not a complete success in what they’re doing in their area.”
That’s included high-stakes diplomatic meetings amid the Russia-Ukraine war and escalating conflicts in the Middle East — including Israel’s fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the more recent 12-day war between the Jewish state and Iran.
The secretary of state’s star has risen since being nominated in November, with Trump often celebrating Rubio’s accomplishments in public events and even suggesting the cabinet official is one of two members of the administration who could take up the MAGA mantle after the 47th president departs.
“It’s far too early to say that. But you know, I do have a vice president … and JD [Vance]’s doing a fantastic job,” Trump told NBC News’ Kristen Welker of his vice president in a May interview on “Meet the Press.”
“I don’t want to get involved in that. I think he’s a fantastic, brilliant guy. Marco is great. There’s a lot of them that are great,” the president said. “We have a lot of good people in this party.”
Trump mocked the former Florida Republican senator as “Little Marco” on his way to securing the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
Dropping out of the contest in March that year, Rubio said: “It is not God’s plan that I be president in 2016 or maybe ever.”
“I ask the American people, do not give into the fear, do not give into the frustration,” he added, without directly naming Trump, who clinched their party’s nomination two months later.
Recent public polling indicates Rubio faces an uphill battle against Vance in the 2028 primary field.
An Emerson College survey in May found Vance receiving 46% support from GOP voters, followed by Rubio at 12%, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 9% and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at 5%.
FULL EPISODE
“He is probably my best friend in the administration,” Vance has told Fox News of Rubio. “We hang out and talk all the time.”
Another poll by J.L. Partners found 46% of registered voters were ready to cast their vote for Vance in the primary, with DeSantis (8%), Rubio (6%) and Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (6%) behind.
Wiles in her “Pod Force One” appearance also gave Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Education Secretary Linda McMahon a shoutout for what they’ve been able to accomplish in the first six months of the 47th president’s tenure.
“Marco Rubio’s the funniest guy in the cabinet,” Kennedy had gushed in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson released on his eponymous network earlier this month.
“He says things that make people belly laugh every cabinet meeting,” Kennedy said. “I never was very, let’s say, approving of Marco because he was kind of a neocon war hawk and now he’s had this incredible transformation.”
“I think he’s very aligned with me on most issues — on Ukraine, and just the fact that we should not be the policemen of the world anymore,” he added.
McMahon is waging a multi-front war against Ivy League universities while also effectively closing down the very department she runs. It’s “an impossible job that she’s done with great grace,” Wiles noted.
“They’re all great. But I was sitting in a cabinet meeting one day, and they do tend to go on a while, so I was jotting down in my notebook how I saw the cabinet,” she added. “And these numbers are wrong, but order of magnitude correct: five published authors, seven billionaires, 11 lawyers, a couple of minorities, a Democrat or two.”
“It is an amazing group of people that he put together,” Wiles said. “Even the ones that are not young are still energetic.”
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