Trump’s crony diplomacy is marginalizing Marco Rubio

Outsourcing high-stakes diplomacy to family members and business associates would provoke public outrage in most democracies. President Trump, however, has normalized the practice.

In this model of crony diplomacy, personal loyalty, private gain and informal networks routinely override institutional processes and the national interest, while accountability diminishes.

Against this backdrop, it may scarcely be surprising that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent overseas travels have skirted the world’s main hot spots. Rubio’s latest travels have taken him to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Iceland, Greece, Portugal and, most recently, Uzbekistan and India.

Trump, instead of relying on Rubio and the professional diplomatic corps, has repeatedly turned to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and business partner Steve Witkoff — a Manhattan real-estate figure — to spearhead high-stakes negotiations on Ukraine, Russia, Gaza and Iran. Both men entered their roles as “special envoys” for peace with no prior diplomatic experience. Both also have glaring conflicts of interest.

Rubio’s travel schedule heavily favors lower-risk regions while avoiding the main theaters of global conflict. Critics speculate that he is doing this deliberately to safeguard his own political future. By keeping his distance from the Trump administration’s messiest and most volatile foreign-policy crises, including his muddled China policy, Rubio stays clear of issues that could end badly.

Rubio may have calculated that his long-term career — potentially including a presidential run in 2028 — is best served by bypassing the administration’s core foreign-policy minefields.

Rubio, however, has remained the administration’s point man on Venezuela and Cuba. Neither Venezuela nor Cuba, though, has done much to burnish his record.

The Trump administration’s strategy since January of strangling Cuba has created a severe humanitarian crisis on the........

© The Hill