Maybe it’s just me, but Rubio’s “we belong together”… and we sound so direct “because we care deeply” … to Europe at the Munich Security Conference sounds like a classic abuser gaslighting their victim. He is just the slightly friendlier looking one that the thugs back in Washington have sent out. And the fact that EC Commission President von der Leyen is “very much reassured by his remarks” suggests that it may be working.
RUBIO’S LOVE LETTER: What a difference a year makes.
When VP JD Vance took the stage last February at the 2025 Munich Security Conference and delivered an explosive rebuke of Europe’s trajectory, he gave America’s oldest allies the rudest of awakenings as the new administration settled into power. “There’s a new sheriff in town,” Vance declared, and his name was President Donald Trump.
Exactly one year later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio this morning delivered his own address at the conference. He was tasked with defending Trump’s foreign policy, which has shaken the international order to its core and upended longstanding alliances.
Venezuela. Iran. Ukraine. A sprawling trade war hinging on the whims of one man. A looming annexation threat to Greenland that would blow up NATO. That was the global context weighing heavily over the audience Rubio stepped before, which was preparing for the worst.
Instead, Rubio delivered them a Valentine.
“The United States and Europe — we belong together,” Rubio said. He emphasized, again and again, that the two shared a cultural heritage and belonged to “one civilization, Western civilization.” And he pleaded with Europe to join forces with the U.S. on its Trumpian trajectory.
“This is why we Americans may sometimes come off as, uh, a little direct and urgent in our counsel,” Rubio said — an apparent reference to last year’s speech from Vance, who is both a personal friend of Rubio and his chief rival if both decide to run for president in 2028. “This is why President Trump demands seriousness and reciprocity from our friends in Europe. The reason why, my friends, is because we care deeply.”
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… The reviews are in: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was “very much reassured” by Rubio’s speech. “We know some in the administration have a harsher tone on these topics,” she added, perhaps not so subtly.
Source: Politico Playbook Newsletter | February 14, 2026
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