Secretary of State Marco Rubio forcefully rejected the idea that the State Department exists as a kind of institutional counterweight to the White House, dismissing the notion as fundamentally misguided and contrary to the Constitution. Speaking to reporters Friday, Rubio made clear that his role, and that of the department he leads, is to carry out the foreign policy of the president elected by the American people, not to undermine it.
“That’s ridiculous. That’s stupid, really,” Rubio said when asked about the idea that the State Department could or should act independently as a check on presidential authority.
Rubio used the moment to offer what he described as a basic civics lesson, emphasizing that the secretary of state serves at the pleasure of the president and is tasked with implementing the administration’s foreign policy agenda. He stressed that the department is not a separate power center within the federal government.
🚨 JUST IN: INCREDIBLE mic drop from Sec. Marco Rubio. BOOM! 🔥
"The Constitution does not say you elect the President and then you put in place a State Department to undermine the President if the person who's the Secretary of State doesn't agree with him. That's ridiculous.… pic.twitter.com/Z1slwgvNW0
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 19, 2025
“The State Department is not its own government,” Rubio said. He explained that neither he nor career officials have the authority to substitute their personal views for the policies set by the president. “At the end of the day, the person the people of the United States elected to be the President of the United States and the Commander-in-Chief is Donald J. Trump,” Rubio said. “That’s who they elected.”
Rubio underscored that elections matter, particularly when it comes to foreign policy, which he described as inseparable from the constitutional structure of the republic. According to Rubio, voters did not elect a president only to have unelected bureaucracies reinterpret or resist the policies they voted for.
“And my job, and the job of the people in our administration, is to implement the President’s foreign policy,” Rubio said. He noted that while his role includes advising the president and offering guidance on how best to execute those policies, that advisory function does not give him license to override or dilute the president’s decisions.
Rubio said confusion over this point reflects a misunderstanding of how the American system of government works. “Why people think that somehow foreign policy can be divorced from our republic?” he asked. “That’s not the way our Constitution works.”
He continued by directly addressing the claim that the State Department should act as a backstop against a president’s agenda if disagreements arise. “The Constitution does not say you elect the President and then you put in place a State Department to undermine the President if the person who’s the Secretary of State doesn’t agree with him,” Rubio said.
Calling that interpretation of government both false and illogical, Rubio repeated his blunt assessment. “That’s ridiculous. That’s stupid, really. I don’t know why anybody would think that.”
Rubio framed his remarks as a defense of democratic accountability, arguing that policy direction should flow from the president chosen by voters, not from unelected officials operating behind the scenes. He said his pride in the job comes from faithfully executing that responsibility.
“So that’s the job I have, and that’s the job I’m proud to do,” Rubio said.
The comments reflect a broader push by the Trump administration to reassert civilian control over foreign policy and rein in what it has often described as entrenched bureaucracy resistant to the president’s agenda. Rubio’s remarks leave little ambiguity about where he stands: the State Department’s role is to serve the president, not second-guess him.
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