Photograph Source: U.S. Embassy Jerusalem – CC BY 2.0

Question: What member of Trump’s cabinet has four major posts, but only one job?

Answer: Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio is the uber-mensch of the Trump administration. He is the secretary of state, the acting national security adviser, the acting director of (what’s left) of the Agency for International Development, and the acting director of the National Archives. His only full-time job has never been performed by a secretary of state, canceling visas for international students and making sure that migrants are sent to horrific prisons in El Salvador or the South Sudan where a civil war is taking place. He has even targeted a group of Venezuelan migrants who were given legal status by the Biden administration. Nearly every Rubio decision on immigration matters has been illegal, and he presumably knows these decisions are illegal. Nearly every decision has been blocked or challenged in federal courts.

After his confirmation in January, Rubio began his campaign to cancel visas for at least 1,500 international students. The secretary of state has the power to cancel such visas, but Rubio is the first secretary of state to do so. Rubio has no interest in defending the free speech rights of students; he maintains that anyone who associates with protestors should not attend a U.S. university. This week, he ordered U.S. embassies and consulates to stop student visa applications, which will give the Trump administration time to issue even more restrictions.

Rubio favors an even broader crackdown on foreign students following the ban on foreign students at Harvard. Last week, he ordered........

© CounterPunch