\u201cWhat to get someone who has everything, I thought,\u201d said Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday, as he handed Pope Leo a funny little crystal-football present. \u201cWow, OK,\u201d replied Leo, stiffly.<\/p>\n
It was a useful reminder that Rubio is not always a smooth operator. For all the articles suggesting he has now overtaken Vice President J.D. Vance as favorite to be the 2028 Republican nominee, for all the media gushing over the \u201cSecretary of Everything\u201d in the White House briefing room, Lil\u2019 Marco can still be something of a robotic plonker on the big stage.<\/p>\n
Lil\u2019 Marco can still be something of a robotic plonker on the big stage<\/p>\n
It was Rubio, after all, who was the first cabinet official to suggest in public that Israel had strong-armed America into attacking Iran.<\/p>\n
Rubio and Vance are currently friendly rivals \u2013 or \u201cfrivals,\u201d if you want. There\u2019s little doubt that, in their own ways, the VP and Secretary of State are dancing around each other\u2019s ambitions to be president. And Donald Trump, who loves rehashing The Apprentice through politics, appears to be stoking the competition between both men: he\u2019s said to be fond of asking guests at Mar-a-Lago who they like more.<\/p>\n
The timing of Rubio\u2019s visit is interesting, too. Tensions between the Vatican and Washington needed smoothing out, following the President and the Pope clashing over Iran and the nature of nuclear threats. But Vance, a devout convert to Catholicism, was clearly not the man for the job: his last visit to see Pope Leo was notably awkward, and he faced considerable criticism saying that the Pontiff should \u201cbe careful when he talks about matters of theology.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rubio is also a practicing Catholic, though one who has flirted more with evangelicalism, perhaps to improve his appeal with Republican voters. His visit to Rome appears to have gone relatively well.<\/p>\n
Leo gave Rubio an \u201colive branch\u201d \u2013 what else do you give the \u201cSecretary of Everything?\u201d The Vatican press office stated afterward that the two men had exchanged views \u2013 \u201cwith particular attention to countries marked by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations, as well as on the need to work tirelessly in favor of peace.\u201d A US official told reporters that the meeting had been \u201cfriendly and constructive.\u201d<\/p>\n