U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing titled "U.S. Policy Towards Venezuela", on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 28, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
President Donald Trump hosted Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House this week for a multi-day event in which critics complained the president "fawned" over Xi. But one national security expert and former CIA officer is shaming Secretary of State Marco Rubio for refusing to stand up for America in the moment.
MS NOW's Nicolle Wallace on Thursday, ahead of the state dinner, asked Sue Gordon for her response to seeing Trump roll out the red carpet for Xi while he has "nothing but disdain and smears for our close friends to the north in Canada."
"I mean, you just talk about split-screens," Wallace said. "It is disrespect and fighting words for our one-time allies and sucking up in a grotesque and embarrassing manner for all Americans, for our sort of strategic adversaries. What does it say about Marco Rubio that he didn't lay his body down before Trump got to Andrews [Air Force Base] and greet Xi?"
Gordon said that she's known Rubio "for a long time. I know he knows better." She thinks that one reason he's seen so little is that "he thinks that he is going to be able to bring some semblance of wisdom and [propriety] and understanding of second and third order effects best if he keeps a low profile. Denied!"
She explained that there are days "when you just have to take a room and do the American people's work. So, I know him, I know he knows better, and somehow to me, that makes his silence even more abysmal than those that have less power, less wisdom, and equal access. So I think it says a lot."
Trump believes he can sway someone into doing what he wants by "who we're fawning over," but Gordon explained that it won't produce any results. Instead, it signals to China that Trump needs them. He's not displaying strength. He's showing weakness.
"I suspect that the president thinks it will. What you're sending a message to our allies and partners is you — we are going to say whatever is expedient for us."
What she doesn't understand is how Trump could go from sounding the alarm on China and trying to build an America that can exist independently from China and then do what he's done this week.
She said that six years ago she would have told Trump that China is not America's friend and that he "can't manipulate them into being less than they want to be by flattering them."
But by flattering them, Gordon explained that Trump has revealed himself while "giving them an opening to influence you via what you have shown. So, it just — it's sending signals around the world. And what I would say to our friends about our friends and allies is they're going to have to decide who we are and whether they will bear a cost for us if they are put to a test. This is just a really difficult, unfortunate, sad projection for the future."