Secretary of State Marco Rubio laid out a common-sense approach to U.S. foreign policy by suggesting American diplomacy should work in American interests, and that when countries like Ukraine receive billions from U.S. taxpayers, it’s not too much to expect some “gratitude.”
In an interview with former CBS reporter Catherine Herridge published on X Thursday, Rubio outlined those interests by first reminding viewers that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s antagonism against the White House predates the Trump administration.
“Joe Biden had frustrations with Zelensky, people shouldn’t forget it,” Rubio said.
The State Department chief referenced reports that then-President Biden lost composure with the Ukrainian president because, rather than saying “thank you for all your help,” Zelensky “is immediately out there messaging what we’re not doing, or what he’s not getting.”
NBC News chronicled one such episode in October 2022.
“Biden had barely finished telling Zelenskyy he’d just greenlighted another $1 billion in U.S. military assistance for Ukraine when Zelenskyy started listing all the additional help he needed and wasn’t getting,” the network reported. “Biden lost his temper, the people familiar with the call said. The American people were being quite generous, and his administration and the U.S. military were working hard to help Ukraine, he said, raising his voice, and Zelenskyy could show a little more gratitude.”
During the interview, Rubio continued to frame Zelensky as a hostile foreign actor for denying U.S. access to his nation’s rich mineral deposits after American taxpayers funded Ukraine’s defense.
“We explained to them, ‘look we want to be in joint venture with you not because we’re trying to steal from your country, but because we think that’s actually a security guarantee,” Rubio said.
Rubio explained that Zelensky initially expressed agreement to the deal to embark on a mutually beneficial economic enterprise with the U.S., but that only days later the Ukrainian president appeared in reports saying he outright rejected it.
“So, you start to get upset …,” Rubio said. “We’re trying to help these guys.”
Rubio explained President Donald Trump’s foreign policy is an agenda based on what benefits Americans.
“One of the points the president made in his messaging is not that we don’t care about Ukraine, but Ukraine is on another continent,” Rubio said. “It doesn’t directly impact the daily lives of Americans. We care about it because it has implications for our allies and ultimately for the world.”
“There should be some level of gratitude here about this,” Rubio added. “And when you don’t see it and you see him out there accusing the president of living in a world of disinformation, that’s highly, very counterproductive.”
Trump, Rubio said, is “not the kind of person that’s going to sit there and take that … he sent a message that he’s not going to get gamed here.”
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