‘There will be changes’: Marco Rubio confirmed as US Secretary of State | News about Donald Trump

United States President Donald Trump’s cabinet has begun to take shape, with his first nominee confirmed for the role: Florida lawmaker Marco Rubio.

Rubio, 53, was sworn in Tuesday as secretary of state, the country’s top diplomat and the highest-ranking government role, next to the vice president and president.

The ceremony followed a rare unanimous vote in the Senate to elevate him to the role.

All 99 members voted yes: The only vote missing from the 100-seat chamber was Rubio himself, as he had to step down as a senator to take up his new position.

Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony, Vice President JD Vance described Rubio as “a necessary departure from a generation of failed foreign policy.”

“He’s a bipartisan solution seeker, a guy who can actually get things done, but a conservative of great principle and vision,” Vance said. “And I think more than anyone I’ve met in Washington in the last few years, Senator Rubio, I think, understands the specific priorities of President Trump.”

But what has Rubio promised to do in his new role? And what did the ceremony on Tuesday reveal about the newly minted diplomat? Here are three conclusions.

Rubio defends State Department employees

In his first remarks as secretary of state, Rubio praised the federal employees who conduct day-to-day operations at the US State Department, the executive agency he now leads.

“This is an extraordinary honor and privilege to serve in this role, to be here — frankly, to oversee the greatest, most effective, most talented, most experienced diplomatic corps in the history of the world,” Rubio said.

“I also want to thank the local staff, the citizens of those countries who work with us,” he added. “Without their help, without their support, it would be impossible for us to carry out our mission.”

Rubio’s remarks come at a sensitive time for federal civil servants, as Trump takes office with a series of executive actions designed to rein in government red tape.

Just a day earlier, on the first day of his second term, Trump threatened to fire those employees he considers loyal to his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.

“In order to gain immediate control of the vast, out-of-control federal bureaucracy, I will implement an immediate regulatory freeze, which will stop Biden’s bureaucrats from continuing to regulate,” Trump told supporters gathered at the Capitol One Arena in Washington, DC.

“Most of these bureaucrats have been dismissed. They left. They should all be, but some slip through.”

In contrast, Rubio entered his new role defending the work of the State Department and praising its employees.

“There is no other agency in the world, there is no other agency in our government, that I would rather lead because of the talent gathered here in this room and those watching around the world,” he said.

Rubio vows to advance ‘America First’

Still, Rubio reiterated his firm commitment to advancing Trump’s “America First” policy platform and warned that there would be changes at the State Department as a result.

“There will be changes, but the changes are not meant to be destructive. They are not intended to be punitive,” he told the audience at his swearing-in, made up mostly of State Department employees.

Rubio outlined a vision in which the State Department takes a leading role in government affairs.

“Sometimes the State Department is kind of relegated to a secondary role because some other agency can act faster or seems more daring or creative,” Rubio said.

“It’s not your fault. But we will change that. We want to be in the center. We want to be at the center of how we formulate foreign policy.”

The former senator explained that the department’s role moving forward would be more inward-looking, seeking to design policies that would make the US “stronger, safer or more prosperous.”

He also advised staffers to view Trump’s election for a second term in November as a mandate to guide America’s priorities.

“Our job, around the world, is to make sure that we have a foreign policy that advances the national interest of the United States,” he said, adding, “I expect every nation on earth to advance its national interest.”

Balancing falconry with peace

But despite his singular tone Tuesday, Rubio faced protesters as he sat through Senate hearings on his nomination last week.

“Little Marko, keep your hands off our country!” shouted one protester, denouncing US involvement in “eternal wars”.

Another, who spoke Spanish, criticized hard-line US foreign policy: “Marco Rubio’s sanctions are killing children in Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela.”

Rubio brushed off the interruptions with light-hearted remarks. “I understand the bilingual protesters,” joked the lawmaker, the child of Cuban immigrants. He will be the first Latin American to hold the office of Secretary of State.

But the protests were a reminder of Rubio’s reputation as a foreign policy hawk, known for his aggressive stance toward America’s adversaries abroad.

One particular target during Rubio’s confirmation hearings was China, which has sanctioned the Florida politician over his support for Hong Kong autonomy. He told senators last week that he believed the US-China rivalry would “define the 21st century.”

“The Communist Party of China that leads the PRC [People’s Republic of China] is the most powerful and dangerous near-term adversary this nation has ever faced,” Rubio said.

He explained that China’s threat surpassed that of America’s Cold War rival, the Soviet Union.

“They have elements that the Soviet Union never possessed. They are our technological adversary and competitor, industrial competitor, economic competitor, geopolitical competitor, scientific competitor now — in every field.”

Yet despite his hawkish demeanor, Rubio told State Department employees on Tuesday that he plans to follow through on Trump’s promises to bring peace to the world.

“That’s what we’re trying to do: promote peace around the world because it’s in our national interest,” Rubio said. “Without peace, it is difficult to be a strong nation, a prosperous nation.”

However, he admitted that “there will be conflicts”. In explaining how he views American foreign policy, he echoed rhetoric popular among the Christian right: namely, that the US was founded on a religious mandate.

“We are, at the end of the day, a nation founded on a strong principle. And that powerful principle is that all men are created equal because our rights come from God, our creator – not from our laws, not from our governments,” Rubio said.

“We hope that the whole world will one day be able to live under it. And we will always, always be strong defenders of that principle.”