I wonder how long Marco Rubio will last as secretary of state?

Marco Rubio is a pretty smart guy. He wanted to be president but jumped in a bit prematurely. The Big Beast, Donald Trump, was very much the man in favour and he stood no chance. But now he is secretary of state, a fine and prestigious appointment, and the fact that he sailed through his Senate confirmation was proof enough that Congress was happy with his appointment. Crucially, Rubio is one of them, in other words, he was a long-serving senator, was vice chairman of the intelligence committee and served on other key committees. He is well liked and has a charming manner. None of these qualities were necessarily the vital ingredients that persuaded Trump to nominate him to be America's top diplomat. But Rubio was the obvious choice for the job, and the state department seems pretty content with having him there, rather than some pal of Trump's who made a few billion dollars doing something or other. Rubio has certainly started his job on the run, whisking off to Panama and elsewhere in Latin America, promulgating his president's well known theme about America taking more control of stuff (such as the Panama Canal) and kicking Chinese influence down the track. Rubio has also quietly taken over the US international aid department USAID, absorbing it into the state department. Lots of people from USAID, which, by the way, is a pretty good organisation filled with dedicated staff, have been made redundant or fired. The Grand Wielder of the Axe, Elon Musk, has claimed to have discovered all kinds of dodgy donations to undeserving countries and judged it best to close the whole department down and stuff what's left into the state department. Rubio has acquiesced. So far, so good for Rubio. But there will come a time when Trump wants to do something outrageous foreign-policy-wise whch mnight be just too tricky for Rubio. Then what does he do? He knows that if he shows the slightest hint of disagreement or disloyalty to the Trump cause, he'll be out. So let's see how long he lasts.