US Secretary of State Marco Rubio gives a media briefing during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 11, 2025. MANDEL NGAN/Pool via REUTERS
Back in May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced mass layoffs at the U.S. State Department as part of a major restructuring plan by the Trump Administration. The New York Times reported that 1300 State Department employees are being laid off, and Rubio said the layoffs are consistent with President Donald Trump's push to purge the agency of "radical political ideology."
The New Yorker's Susan Glasser discussed Rubio's announcements during a Friday, July 11 appearance on "Morning Joe."
Lemire described the layoffs as "an isolationist, inward-looking move for an administration that, frankly, seems to want to abdicate some of America's role around the globe." And Glasser stressed that Rubio's current positions are a major departure from the foreign policy he favor in the past.
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Glasser told Lemire, "First of all, that quote is a remarkable quote from Marco Rubio, formerly not only an establishment-type Republican, but a huge proponent of diplomacy and American soft power around the world. The flip-flop by Marco Rubio is one of the more dramatic, if underappreciated, stories in Trump 2.0."
Glasser continued, "That quote, what does it do? It underscores the idea that it's not just a kind of an inward-looking isolationist foreign policy that the Trump Administration is pursuing right now, Jonathan, but it's actually a war against 'radical political ideology.' That's the enemy within. This is a modern-day version, essentially, of a kind of McCarthyism that you're seeing."
Glasser described Trump's "enemy from within" rhetoric as extremely troubling, arguing that Rubio is now promoting that type of mindset.
"Remember that one of (Sen. Joseph) McCarthy's main targets was 'enemies,' as he called them, within the State Department who were somehow disloyal," Glasser told Lemire. "And so, that language to me, especially at the State Department — I mean, that's a historical echo that Marco Rubio had to have been conscious of when he used that phrase. And he, of course, is parroting Donald Trump himself, who I think — in one of the most, you know, sort of overlooked statements before the 2024 election — Trump gave an interview in which he said, yeah, you know, we have adversaries. We have Russia and China internationally, but then we have the enemy from within. And of those, the enemy from within is the greater enemy."
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Glasser added, "And I think this administration isn't so much focused on countering adversaries overseas as it is in a series of loyalty purges from within."
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Watch the full video at this Mediaite link.