Marco Rubio is the most powerful Latino US politician ever. Heaven help us all

The pet did a good trick: In front of a room full of heads of state from all over Latin America, little Marco spoke Spanish.

His owner – well, the owner of his soul at least – laughed and joked, “I think you’re better in Spanish” than English. Following President Trump, it was Pentagon Pete’s turn to tease little Marco.

“I speak only for America,” said Defense Secretary Hegseth. The hall remained silent except for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who politely protested, “I only speak Cuban.”

Trump patted him on the back. Nice guy, Marco.

The exchange, which took place over a weekend dominated by war with Iran, was brief but said much about the times Latinos live in. Rubio, the most powerful Latino politician in US history, may have gone to Trump and Hegseth the Chihuahua who says “That’s Taco Bell.” The man who played a key role in pushing a president who campaigned against expensive foreign wars and chaotic regime reforms to do both was brought back into disrepute.

Really little Marco.

Here’s a reminder that no matter how high and mighty in Trump’s White House, Latinos are still one of the rare “others.”

Branding is always a bad thing – yet Rubio deserves no tears. He did the work by wearing his own latinidad like a shiny guayabera when appropriate, long presenting himself as a boy-face alternative to the corrupt, dysfunctional Latino political archetype. That situation fueled a 27-year career – Speaker of the Florida House, US Senator, former president, secretary of State and national security adviser. That has made many conservatives and more than a few Latinos feel that he can not only run a strong White House but also win if he does.

All that cost Rubio was his behavior and backbone. All he had to do was roll over.

We Latinos deserve better – and yet we don’t want it.

The story that liberals and conservatives have always told about the largest minority in America is that we will change the United States in an irreversible way – the former group insists that it will be better, the latter insist that we will cause the downfall of this country. Rubio proves that at our worst, Latinos show that in our pursuit of conformity and acceptance, we often become the worst kind of Americans.

It is we the American psyche who see us as perpetual invaders, yet we enlist thousands of Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies to deport the Trump Leviathan. As Trump lost Latinos in his first term and in his years out of office, a growing number of us cheered for him — of course, he meant it. the rest Latinos – until Trump captured more of our votes in 2024 than any other Republican presidential candidate.

It takes a certain kind of person to go from the child of Cuban immigrants – the favorite son of the exiled community that transformed Miami from a retirement neighborhood into one of Latin America’s capitals – to tell European leaders last month that they and the United States “opened our doors to an unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the cohesion of our communities, our culture, the continuity of our people.”

It takes the worst kind of Latino.

I called Rubio a vendido in the past column after congratulating the illegal capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He’s definitely a salesman – what else can you call someone who was once a staunch anti-Trump but now falls for him like a cockapoo? But the saddest part about Rubio’s rise is that his supporters see him as the result of the old dream of Latinos that things will be better in the countries of our Latin American ancestors and us if one of us is charged.

Alas, no. He lives up to the principle of realpolitik mentioned in the various caudillos of Latin America: To my friends, everything; my enemies are the law.

Powerful men like the president of El Salvador and the presidents of Argentina Nayib Bukele and Javier Milei are arrested and receive foreign aid; college students on student visas who criticized the Trump administration were arrested these migrations. Rubio is in charge of foreign policy where the US is currently deciding how Venezuela will be governed, bombing Iran like the country was a Pachinko game and slowly suffocating Cuba. He is the bastard child of Bush-era neoconservativism and MAGA — and Rubio is just getting started.

So he set himself up to be used as a Latino punch line by Trump and Hegseth. The setting: the first meeting on Trump’s golf course near Miami of the Shield of the Americas, a coalition of Western Hemisphere countries ostensibly united to fight drug cartels. It’s like one of the smaller groups in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – you got Costa Rica instead of Mexico, Bolivia instead of Brazil. The team even has a crappy logo. You know how ridiculous the confab was when the person pointing the finger at Trump this time was Kristi Noem, who had just fired him as Homeland Security secretary.

After Trump entered with a brief speech, it was Rubio’s turn to comment. Here is the chance for the Secretary of State, a man Atlantic recently called “bright and well-spoken,” to channel his inner Simón Bolivar or José Martí. The Secretary of State thanked everyone present in English, but before he praised Trump for his “courageous leadership” and boasted that the president is “one of the most historic people in American history.”

Then Rubio looked back at his beaming master.

President Trump signs a declaration of commitment to fight cartel crime at the Shield of the Americas Summit on Saturday at Trump National Doral Miami in Doral, Fla.

(Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press)

“It’s okay if I -” he began before Trump cut him off with a ransom note, “Sure. Please.”

It was then that little Marco spoke in perfect Spanish. Rubio’s comments were not much different from what he said in English, except for his comment that everything he plans to do after Trump “will make future generations appreciate the work we are doing today.”

That last statement sums up Rubio. For centuries, Latin America has longed for prosperity and peace unimpeded by the United States. This hope has fueled revolutions, music, film, culture and all the best things the region has produced so that US-backed giants can crush that organization.

That’s the torch Rubio now carries proudly.

“All my life I’ve been in a rush to get to my future,” he wrote in his 2013 memoir, “American Son.” Rubio’s future is now. And our moment — not just Latinos, but all Americans — is worse because of it.

My God.