Day: January 13, 2026

The post x.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/…Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews)Meanwhile in Russia: Vladimir Solovyov and Margarita Simonyan bemoaned first appeared on The World Web Times – worldwebtimes.com.

The Europeans, perhaps a little too wishfully, agree with this assessment. They are trying to mitigate the damage the U.S. is doing to transatlanticism and NATO and the European Union and can’t afford to adopt the oppositional stance of American political actors. This frustrates many in America’s commentariat, myself included sometimes. But one understands their imperative. They reckon this White House is better with Rubio in it than not. Meanwhile, career Foreign Service types and Democrats who got on with Rubio in the Senate and voted to confirm him as Secretary of State see only a cynical opportunist who gutted USAID, betrayed Venezuelan dissidents by cozying up to Rodriguez, and is maybe about to sign off on the illegal annexation of Greenland. The Second Coming of John McCain this is not.

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) Jan 14, 2026

There are two prevailing views of what Rubio represents in this administration. The first is that he sold his soul to MAGA and became an enthusiastic executioner of Trump’s agenda. All spheres of influence and gimme gimme militarism. Gone is the internationalism of the pre-Trump era Republican. Anakin gave in to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader. The second view is that Rubio sold his soul to MAGA but still tries to blunt the edges of Trump’s agenda and even sneaks in some of his old foreign policy agenda whilst somehow staying in Trump’s good graces — Thomas Cromwell in the Tudor court or a wily Politburo member trying to survive the purges. Going after Maduro but making it about oil and narco-terrorism rather than democracy  and human rights is one way to do it. Praising Trump to the point of narcolepsy and quietly preempting the wholesale forfeiture of Ukrainian territory to a weakened Russia is another way.

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) Jan 14, 2026

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The post x.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/…Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews)Meanwhile in Russia: Vladimir Solovyov and Margarita Simonyan bemoaned first appeared on The World Web Times – worldwebtimes.com.

The post Democratic-led US states sue over HHS grant conditions targeting transgender people first appeared on The World Web Times – worldwebtimes.com.

The post x.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/…Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews)Meanwhile in Russia: Vladimir Solovyov and Margarita Simonyan bemoaned first appeared on The World Web Times – worldwebtimes.com.