Rubio in Greece digs into the past to tout Trump’s ‘America First’ approach | Marco Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a classically inspired apology for Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy on Wednesday, delivering a sweeping speech against the backdrop of the Parthenon in Athens that seemed tailor-made for campaign ads if he runs for president in 2028.

In his speech, America’s top diplomat drew historical parallels between ancient founders, philosophers and conquerors and the modern American spirit – as well as his family’s journey to the United States – as he called on Europe to “awaken from its long slumber” and reject a “future of atrophy, servitude and decline.”

The highly produced speech contained a forceful rejection of the type of globalist policies that Trump has blamed for the ills of America and Europe, including growing illegal immigration and the outsourcing of manufacturing. In it, Rubio warned that the Western world was at an “inflection point” and defended America’s “unapologetic pursuit of national power.”

“The word ‘nationalism’ became a dirty word, so we tore down our monuments,” Rubio said. “We have condemned our own history and, in too many places, we have taught our children to be ashamed of the country they would inherit. »

Today, he says, the Western world finds itself at a crossroads, where it must either “retain its place at the head of the world, or (resign itself) to a future of atrophy, servitude and decline.”

“Under President Trump, the United States has made its choice,” Rubio continued. “We choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power: to regain control of our critical supply chains, to reindustrialize our economy, to rebuild our defense, to fight for dominance in the technologies and industries of the future. »

The speech comes as U.S.-Europe relations face numerous tensions, including the U.S. war in Iran, Washington’s scattered support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia, disputes within NATO including Trump’s recent demands for sovereignty over Greenland, and a growing ideological divide fueled by powerful officials including U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

The shift in the Trump administration’s use of national power has unsettled many European allies, who have continued to seek compromises in order to keep the Trump administration in line on major issues, including support for Ukraine and economic cooperation across the European Union.

Vance, a likely candidate in the 2028 election, put European allies on notice last year in a speech at the Munich security conference, when he accused leaders of being “terrified of their own people” and warned of the “threat from within” that Europe is rejecting the values ​​it shares with the United States.

Rubio developed a less aggressive – but nonetheless pointed – message calling on European powers led by the United States to fight “civilizational erasure.”

Rubio addressed these tensions by recalling Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address in 1861, on the eve of the Civil War, saying: “While passions may at times have strained the bonds of affection between the United States and Europe, they must not be allowed to be severed. »

“Together we must strengthen an alliance capable of confronting the threats of our time,” he said, touting the recent agreement between the United States, Denmark and Greenland that he said will “reshape the Arctic and strengthen the security of all of NATO.”

But Wednesday’s speech indicates the shift in U.S. geopolitical power could persist into a future presidency, as two of the current administration’s most prominent Republican officials forcefully told Europe there would be no return to the policies of the past.

On Wednesday, speaking to a crowd of 250 invited Greek and European officials, as well as journalists, Rubio sought to rally European allies, saying they should follow the lead of the current Greek government, to embrace a partnership with the United States on “everything from energy to migration to defense, where Greece has been a model ally.”

“We believe Europe can wake up from its long slumber and rekindle the fire that was lit here millennia ago,” Rubio said, pointing to positive trends including increased European defense spending, expanding manufacturing and production, and a “wave” of new partnerships and programs.

To support his argument, Rubio delivered a selective reading of history from ancient times to the present, arguing that the values ​​of the ancient Greeks permeated those of later scientists and explorers, including some controversial choices, notably Christopher Columbus and the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, whose legacies are associated with the subjugation of Latin America.

But Rubio said they, like many others, carry a frontier spirit born in antiquity.

“The greatest Americans of every generation have carried the characteristic traits of their ancestors – born in Athens, trained by Rome, baptized into Christianity, hardened in the furnace of medieval Europe, blessed with the English genius for liberty, then transported across the Atlantic to be reborn on the shores of a new world,” he said.

The Acropolis speech was extensively produced, with four cameras, including one mounted on a crane, and was unusual for a secretary of state giving a speech during a three-country tour, through Iceland, Portugal and finally Greece.

In an unusual aside from America’s top diplomat, Rubio also linked his own journey back to Europe and then to the ancient Greeks.

“Two and a half centuries after the founding of the American republic, half a world away from where I stand today – I am here today as secretary of state of this republic and the great-grandson of colonists who came to the new world from Spain – I stand here to bear witness to a debt that no lapse of time, no distance of space can ever extinguish,” he said.