Senator Marco Rubio had some tough questions for Rex Tillerson, Exxon CEO and Donald Trump nominee for secretary of state, during Tillerson’s confirmation hearing on January 11.
Rubio’s aggressive interrogation of Tillerson led some to speculate that the senator and former GOP presidential candidate might take principled stand against his own party’s president by voting against the nominee.
Others, however, assumed Rubio’s angry display was just the grandstanding of a typical politician who would ultimately cave and support Tillerson out of political convenience, perhaps to avoid the wrath of Trump. As a candidate in the GOP primary, Trump mercilessly mocked Rubio by giving him the nickname, “Little Marco.”
Rubio’s doubters turned out to be right, because on Monday the senator announced he would be voting to confirm Tillerson as secretary of state. “Despite my reservations, I will support Mr. Tillerson’s nomination in committee and in the full Senate,” Rubio concluded in a lengthy post on Facebook.
“I have no doubts about Mr. Tillerson’s qualifications and patriotism. He has an impressive record of leadership and the proven ability to manage a large and complex organization,” Rubio wrote. “What I focused on from the beginning is whether as secretary of state he will make the defense of liberty, democracy and human rights a priority.”
Rubio critics compared this to the senator’s change of heart with respect to Donald Trump following the GOP primary. Rubio ultimately decided to support the Republican nominee, despite previously saying Trump was too “dangerous” to be president, and arguing that the U.S. should not hand “the nuclear codes of the United States to an erratic individual.” Rubio was also a co-author of the Gang of Eight immigration reform bill, but eventually came out against the bill even after he voted for it.
From writing Gang of 8 bill to turning on it, opposing Trump to supporting him, and now Rubio backs down and will vote yes on Tillerson
— Erica Werner (@ericawerner) January 23, 2017
“Why did anyone think Marco Rubio would actually oppose Tillerson? He’d sell his grandmother for a nickel,” wrote one concerned citizen with a social media account.
The Democratic National Committee mocked Rubio in a press release, saying the senator had earned the nickname (“Little Marco”) Trump gave him during the primary, and accused him of “rolling over for Donald Trump.”
TAKE THE POLL
