{"id":17539,"date":"2026-01-10T21:01:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T21:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/rubios-2028-profile-rises-with-venezuela-and-so-do-his-risks\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T21:01:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T21:01:40","slug":"rubios-2028-profile-rises-with-venezuela-and-so-do-his-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/rubios-2028-profile-rises-with-venezuela-and-so-do-his-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio\u2019s 2028 profile rises with Venezuela \u2014 and so do his risks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Donald Trump has handed Marco Rubio the keys to Venezuela. It could make or break the secretary of State should he run for president in 2028.<\/p>\n

Rubio has quickly emerged as the administration\u2019s point person on Venezuela, the man standing behind the president as he declared \u201cwe\u2019re going to run the country.\u201d Rubio plastered his face across the Sunday news shows to explain the operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, then went on in the days after to defend it in briefings to Congress.<\/p>\n

Photoshopped memes are now circulating of Rubio sporting a sash with the national colors of Venezuela, like those the country\u2019s presidents wear. Rubio is in on the joke, taking to X on Thursday<\/a> to humorously knock down \u201crumors\u201d that he was \u201ca candidate for the currently vacant HC and GM positions with the Miami Dolphins.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s the American presidency that could be at stake.<\/p>\n

\u201cVenezuela could make him president \u2014 or ensure that he never is,\u201d said Mark McKinnon, a longtime political adviser and former aide to President George W. Bush.<\/p>\n

Blue Light News reported in November<\/a> that Rubio privately had said that he\u2019d back JD Vance for president if he runs in 2028, which Rubio publicly confirmed to Vanity Fair.<\/p>\n

\"Secretary<\/p>\n

\u201cIf JD Vance runs for president, he\u2019s going to be our nominee, and I\u2019ll be one of the first people to support him,\u201d Rubio told Vanity Fair<\/a>, a line his aides pointed Blue Light News to when asked for comment for this story.<\/p>\n

Few political strategists, however, are buying that line, and Rubio has changed his mind on not running<\/a> for office before.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s quietly stacking internal GOP capital, from what I hear from people in my circles within the Republican Party,\u201d said Buzz Jacobs, senior adviser on Rubio\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign. \u201cAs of today, could Marco Rubio enter the presidential race and be very competitive, even against the vice president? I think the answer is undeniably yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubio has spent much of his career railing against Venezuela\u2019s socialist dictatorship, a close ally of the regime in Cuba, his parents\u2019 homeland.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir experience with the evils of socialism and communism is in his DNA,\u201d said Cesar Conda, Rubio\u2019s first Senate chief of staff. \u201cIt guides his world view.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubio ran against Trump for the presidency in 2016; he called Trump a \u201ccon artist.\u201d<\/a> But since Trump won and effectively commandeered the Republican Party, Rubio has adjusted many of his policy positions and his rhetoric. He has surrounded himself with America First staffers and advisers<\/a> who help push forward the Trump administration’s muscular foreign policy.<\/p>\n

\"Smoke<\/p>\n

Trump shortlisted him for the vice presidency in 2024<\/a>, but Rubio ended up at the State Department instead. To the surprise of many political observers, Rubio fell into lockstep with Trump on issues many thought would be a red line for him. He enthusiastically shut down pathways for refugees<\/a> and ended funding for democracy and human rights programs<\/a>, causes he once championed. Taking such steps helped him stay in Trump\u2019s good graces, enough so that the president named him acting national security adviser as well.<\/p>\n

Trump has often cozied up to autocrats, but he has never liked Maduro. In recent days, he made it clear he sees Venezuela as a source of oil and other natural resources for the U.S. to exploit. Rubio has long painted Maduro as a thug who thwarted democracy.<\/p>\n

For much of this year, both men pushed the idea that Maduro had to be dealt with, alleging he led a drug cartel killing Americans with its products. They got their wish: Maduro is now in U.S. custody in New York.<\/p>\n

\"Rubio,<\/p>\n

But the South American country\u2019s fate is far from clear. Many of Maduro\u2019s cronies remain in power, even though Trump insists that they will do what the U.S. demands. Trump told the New York Times<\/a> this week that the U.S. could be running Venezuela for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand that in this cycle and society we now live in, everyone wants instant outcomes. They want it to happen overnight,\u201d Rubio told reporters after briefing the Senate Wednesday. \u201cIt’s not going to work that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of Congress were not notified of the Maduro operation in advance, and many are fuming about what they say is a continued lack of transparency.<\/p>\n

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said Rubio\u2019s briefing \u201craised more questions than it answered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s time to let the public in on this, and let the public see what’s at stake,\u201d said Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.<\/p>\n

Venezuela is unlikely to be a quick or easy fix. The country is roughly twice the size of California, with a shattered economy, a varied landscape, and many armed groups in a population of 30 million. The Maduro cronies left behind have their own internal rivalries, and some control military forces.<\/p>\n

Despite Trump and Rubio\u2019s warnings to the remaining members of the regime to fall in line and capitulate to U.S. demands, it\u2019s possible the Venezuelan state could collapse.<\/p>\n

And it may not end with Venezuela: Rubio and Trump are warning other countries to get in line with what the U.S. wants from them, including Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I would be concerned, at least a little bit,\u201d Rubio said in a Saturday press conference just hours after the Venezuela operation.<\/p>\n

The potential chaos ahead could leave Rubio on the outs with key GOP voting blocs. Those include anti-interventionist conservatives, who remain wary of Rubio\u2019s neoconservative instincts, and Republican Latino voters, especially in Florida,<\/a> some who desperately want regime change in the nations their families fled and others who are frustrated by the region\u2019s instability.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Then, of course, there\u2019s the general public, a good chunk of whom want the U.S. to avoid another repeat of Iraq and Afghanistan. According to a Reuters\/Ipsos poll conducted after the raid,<\/a> 72 percent of Americans are concerned the U.S. will get \u201ctoo involved\u201d in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

As Rubio has become the face of the effort, Vance, a potential rival in 2028, has largely kept away from it. He was not at the makeshift Mar-a-Lago situation room while the raid unfolded on Saturday, a fact his spokesperson attributed<\/a> to concern \u201ca late-night motorcade movement \u2026 may tip off the Venezuelans.\u201d Vance was \u201cdeeply integrated in the process and planning of the Venezuela strikes and Maduro\u2019s arrest,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Rubio also has to consider some practical matters: If he wants to run for president, he will need to raise money, build a campaign infrastructure and take all the other steps needed before the GOP primary kicks into full gear.<\/p>\n

That’s especially difficult to do while secretary of State, a position that traditionally has stayed away from the partisan domestic scene. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had been out of the Obama administration for more than a year before she publicly moved toward a presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

Rubio would likely have to leave the administration after another year or so to have time for all the logistics, as jostling for the 2028 presidential campaign will kick off by early next year.<\/p>\n

\"Rubio<\/p>\n

Most U.S. presidential elections don\u2019t hinge on foreign policy, though candidates from John McCain back to Hubert Humphrey have been damaged by their party\u2019s foreign adventurism. Still, the first year of Trump\u2019s second term has been surprisingly heavy on foreign policy \u2014 and any Republican running in 2028 will likely have to grapple with the results of Trump\u2019s bold international moves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe MAGA base is very loyal to Trump. It will watch if people are disrespectful to him,\u201d said Alex Gray, a former National Security Council official during the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n

There are also factions of the GOP \u2014 including members of the Cuban and Venezuelan diasporas \u2014 who will stand by hardline moves against the regimes there no matter what the cost. Mike Madrid, a GOP strategist, said he has heard from many Latino Republicans who are impressed by how much Trump relies on Rubio. Whenever Trump needs \u201can adult in the room, he seems to look towards Marco\u2019s leadership,\u201d Madrid said.<\/p>\n

But Madrid and other party strategists aren\u2019t about to start taking bets on the GOP primary yet. After all, the situation in Venezuela is just one of multiple Trump foreign policy adventures that could turn into quagmires.<\/p>\n

For Rubio in particular, \u201cwhat may look like the president knighting him as a sort of competent successor may actually, in fact, be him carrying all the weight of the unpopular actions of the president in a couple of years,\u201d Madrid said. \u201cThere’s a greater likelihood of that than not.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump has handed Marco Rubio the keys to Venezuela. It could make or break the secretary of State should he run for president in 2028. Rubio has quickly emerged as the administration\u2019s point person on Venezuela, the man standing behind the president as he declared \u201cwe\u2019re going to run the country.\u201d Rubio plastered his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}