Michael Crowley

That feels new to me.

It's nice to have the social aspect.

Rubio is not playing a visible role in the negotiations with Iran.

And it's not even clear how involved he is behind the scenes.

That's definitely very unusual for an American Secretary of State.

But remember that Mr. Rubio is working two jobs right now, one as Secretary of State and the other as President Trump's National Security Advisor, which keeps him at the White House, where he advises the president and manages meetings.

And he really hasn't been spending as much time traveling overseas and conducting diplomacy abroad as other secretaries of state.

So really, it seems like we should refer to Marco Rubio as National Security Advisor Marco Rubio, rather than defaulting to calling him Secretary of State.

Well, this is very much by design.

The Trump administration until now has not talked a lot about Cuba, but has always had big plans for Cuba.

And I think it's important to understand how much this is coming from Marco Rubio.

Rubio is driving this.

And we may be approaching an endgame that Rubio has worked towards for decades now.

You know, let's start with his background and origins.

Rubio is Cuban-American.

His parents fled to the United States from Cuba before Castro took power in 1959, but were very strongly anti-Castro.

So Rubio grows up in a community of Cuban exiles, and he makes it really his signature issue.

as he dives into the politics of South Florida, where Cuban exiles who are vituperatively opposed to the Cuban regime have enormous influence.

And Rubio has made his opposition to the Cuban government and his efforts to promote its overthrow central to his political identity for his entire career.

And maybe the most vivid detail to underscore that is when Rubio himself ran for president in 2016,