President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., August 26, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
One of Trump's top officials is so desperate to establish himself as his 2028 MAGA successor that he is making a fool of himself, with a scathing new piece from The i Paper lambasting him as "no longer a serious person."
On Friday, journalist James Ball published a breakdown of Rubio's dignity-shredding participation in a recent UFC announcement, arguing that it is part of his broader attempt to remake himself in a more Trumpian mold as part of a desire to run for president again in 2028, which could make him the de facto leader of both the GOP and the MAGA movement. In doing so, however, Ball also argued that Rubio, once viewed as the default "grown-up in the room" in the Trump White House, is torching his credibility.
Noting that his Senate confirmation vote, 99-0, was a throwback to a pre-Trump era of largely uneventful confirmation, Ball said that Rubio was set up to be "a rare heavyweight in a cabinet full of non-entities," but now, "To say he has failed at that task would be a spectacular understatement."
"Few think Rubio was the man making any of [Trump's worst second term] decisions, but they are all happening directly under his watch – he is not only the US’s chief diplomat at a time when its relations are at an all-time low, but he wasalso the acting administrator of the United States Agency for International Development," Ball wrote. "As the USA prepares for its 250th birthday, Rubio has a strong case for being one of the worst-ever Secretaries of State in its entire history. But he is not letting any of the many, many stresses of his day job distract him. Instead, he’s commenting on the UFC cage fight due to happen this weekend on the White House lawn."
Ball further highlighted recent comments Rubio made while taking part in the announcement of a new partnership between the White House and UFC ahead of the promotion's fight card on the White House grounds this weekend. The "sports diplomacy" partnership purports to be using UFC to help promote American interests globally, though as Truthout noted in a report, it has also renewed "concerns about possible conflicts of interest between the franchise and President Donald Trump, who purchased up to $50,000 in stocks in UFC’s parent company, TKO Holdings, in May."
Ball was particularly critical of Rubio's comparison of the deal to the moon landing.
“When President Kennedy announced that we were going to put a man on the moon and return them safely to the Earth, no one thought that was possible, and we did it,” Rubio said. “We are a nation founded on doing what no one else dared to do, and no one else aspired to do… and at some level, that’s what this whole company, what UFC has been.”
"Perhaps Rubio really thinks organising a fighting franchise is on a par with one of humanity’s greatest scientific achievements," Ball wrote. "But the truth is, he probably doesn’t: Rubio is playing the clown because that’s what his boss wants him to do, and it’s what he believes Republican voters want to hear."