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Is Marco Rubio the Happiest Cabinet Member?

May 8, 2026Center Left

While his colleagues deal with war and controversy, he’s laughing and talking in rap lyrics.

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California city council members voted out in a landslide refuse to leave office

Blaze Media

13 hours ago

California city council members voted out in a landslide refuse to leave office

Elected officials in California are carrying on with business as usual, even after their constituents voted overwhelmingly to send them packing.An election was held on April 28 in the California city of Avenal in Kings County, where the mayor, Alvaro Preciado, and three city council members — Leticia Gamez, David Reynosa, and Pablo Hernandez — were recalled with at least 76% of voters backing the ouster in each case. The Kings County Registrar of Voters certified the recall election.'I’ve never seen a city so deflated.'The driving force behind this electoral housecleaning — which the council members unsuccessfully attempted to stop with a lawsuit in April — was principally voter concerns about transparency and the council's previous decision to cease contracting with the county fire department.Preciado, Gamez, and Hernandez voted on June 11 to reject the will of the electorate and remain in office. They even approved a new city budget despite recall advocates producing a restraining order, reported the SF Chronicle.Those officials clinging to power, including Reynosa, maintain that the recall election was conducted unlawfully by Kings County and without the council's authorization.Preciado told the SF Chronicle last month that he was staying in office until a judge decides on the recall's legality.California Democrat Attorney General Robert Bonta cleared the way for legal action against the recalled officials on June 11.RELATED: Gov. Pritzker says he's one of the good billionaires, not the ones vilified by socialists In his opinion, Bonta noted that "if the Relators are correct on the merits, then the Defendants are not lawfully occupying office. It would not be in the public interest to permit elected officials to disregard election results."Days after Bonta granted the recall campaigners' application for leave to sue in quo warranto, residents served Preciado and the other recalled officials a lawsuit and an earful at an Avenal city council meeting.Dalila Barajas, a resident of Avenal who is one of the recall proponents, told KGPE-TV, "It just seems that the more meetings they have, the more money that they're spending illegally, the more our citizens are getting frustrated and the more we're asking for them to step down."While Bonta cleared lawsuits against the recall officials, King County District 2 Supervisor Richard Valle criticized the state attorney general for his apparent disinterest in the scandal, telling KMPH-TV on Wednesday, "I believe that if these were MAGA republicans who were refusing to leave office, someone in California would have done something about that.""We were hoping he would take some action," added Valle."I’ve never seen a city so deflated in my time of being around in public service. The people feel like nobody’s coming to help," added the King County supervisor. "Why is it being allowed to take place here in the state of California, in the county of Kings, in the city of Avenal? It’s embarrassing."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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DOJ charges 8 alleged Tren de Aragua members in Texas, Illinois murder and kidnapping cases

Latest Political News on Fox News

2 days ago

DOJ charges 8 alleged Tren de Aragua members in Texas, Illinois murder and kidnapping cases

Prosecutors described the horrific nature of the crimes. Outside Dallas, Texas, the alleged TdA members executed man was in front of two children, authorities said.

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After GOP Members Rebel, House Stalls Trump Agenda and Heads For Early Holiday Recess

TIME

3 days ago

After GOP Members Rebel, House Stalls Trump Agenda and Heads For Early Holiday Recess

Speaker Mike Johnson sent members on an early holiday recess after Republican hardliners delivered a legislative blockade.

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Rubio privately admits Iran deal may not be 'likely' in tense closed-door meeting: report

Raw Story

3 days ago

Rubio privately admits Iran deal may not be 'likely' in tense closed-door meeting: report

A Republican congressman pushed back on Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the Trump administration's Iran agreement during a private House briefing Monday, and Rubio conceded the negotiations may go nowhere.Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) questioned why the U.S. would even attempt to deal with Tehran, according to a source on the call who relayed the exchange to reporter Mychael Schnell of MS NOW."I don’t understand the MOU from the standpoint of trying to come to an agreement with the country that has never been compliant with anything they’ve done in the past,” McCormick said, per the source. He added that lifting pre-war sanctions "just shows them that they're victorious," and said: "I just don't understand why we'd even consider dealing with these people in any sort of good-faith agreement."The briefing, led by Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff, followed the 14-point memorandum of understanding Trump signed June 17 to halt the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and open a 60-day window for talks on sanctions and Iran's nuclear program.Rubio responded that Iran is already doing things it would never have done, and argued the U.S. should judge Tehran by its actions rather than its statements, per the source. He also lowered expectations."No one is here under any illusion that this is easy, or even likely, in some cases… There's a reason why this has been going on for 47 years, but we’re gonna give it an opportunity," Rubio said, per the source.McCormick's skepticism echoes the alarm that greeted the deal's sanctions concessions, and lands as the ceasefire frays, with U.S. forces striking Iran again last week.

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Complicit Rubio could be 'more dangerous than Trump': conservative

Raw Story

3 days ago

Complicit Rubio could be 'more dangerous than Trump': conservative

As Secretary of State Marco Rubio assumes a commanding position as the presumed successor to Donald Trump’s MAGA throne, one of the former Florida senator’s supporters wondered this week if he is damaged goods.Writing for NOTUS, longtime conservative columnist Matt Lewis noted that he supported Rubio in 2016 and his esteem for him has only grown, but now he worries that not only has he been “complicit,” which could damage his future or worse, or could he have learned the wrong lessons from the Trump administration.Lewis articulates that central tension by writing, "The possibility that this sad detour in American politics could end with a President Rubio offers, at least on the surface, a tiny bit of hope," but that fragile optimism collapses under the weight of Rubio's actual record within the Trump administration.The imagery haunts Lewis. He recalls Rubio "sinking into that couch while Trump and JD Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy"—a moment that crystallizes Rubio's passivity in the face of presidential misconduct."Any Republican who remained opposed to Trump has already been purged, which means the only viable Republicans have, to varying degrees, been tainted," Lewis observed before asking is he a "calculating conservative" or, "... has he transformed into a genuine populist nationalist? Or is he simply a chameleon? Is there even a 'real' Rubio?""If Rubio is an amoral Machiavellian, he might prove more dangerous than Trump, precisely because he’s more competent — and has had more time to observe the testing of America’s institutional guardrails," Lewis wrote before proposing, "If he has transformed into a populist nationalist, then he would compete in the same lane as Vance and Tucker Carlson — perhaps explaining to voters why his worldview evolved during the Trump era, and how he might offer a kinder, gentler version of this philosophy."Adding that he hopes Rubio is "playing the long game," doing what he needs to do to remain "viable', he warned, "Then again, if a presidential candidate is willing to placate Trump to get elected, can we trust him to govern independently once he is in the White House?"

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Justices rule Trump cannot fire Fed member, but grant more power over independent agencies

NBC News Politics

4 days ago

Justices rule Trump cannot fire Fed member, but grant more power over independent agencies

The Supreme Court delivered a setback to President Donald Trump, rejecting his attempt to fire Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook, while in a separate case giving him a freer hand to exert control over other hitherto independent federal agencies.

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Supreme Court strikes down limits on Trump removing FTC members

Politics - CBSNews.com

4 days ago

Supreme Court strikes down limits on Trump removing FTC members

The Supreme Court overturned a 90-year-old decision that allowed Congress to shield members of certain independent agencies from being fired by the president at will.

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Supreme Court Rules Trump Can’t Fire Dem Member of Fed Reserve—For Now

The New Republic

4 days ago

Supreme Court Rules Trump Can’t Fire Dem Member of Fed Reserve—For Now

The Supreme Court has blocked President Trump from firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, preserving the central bank’s independence for now. In a 5-4 decision Thursday split across ideological lines, the Supreme Court blocked Trump’s attempt to become the first president to remove a Federal Reserve official since it was created in 1913.Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court’s three liberal justices to rein in Trump.Last August, Trump declared that he was booting Cook—the first Black woman on the Federal Reserve board—over claims she committed mortgage fraud with two primary residencies. Cook refused to step down, and sued, stating that “President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so.” A lower court ruled that Cook could not be dismissed while her case proceeded. The Department of Justice then requested that the Supreme Court stay that ruling, so that Cook could be removed from her position. The Supreme Court refused. “No matter the precise definition of cause, or the scope of our review of any such determination, the President failed to afford Cook the procedural protections to which she was entitled by statute,” wrote Roberts, who wrote the majority’s ruling.The case will now return to a lower court, where Cook will fight to save her job. Cook was appointed by former President Joe Biden, and her term was set to expire in 2038.In a separate decision Monday, the Supreme Court gave the president more power over independent agencies, ruling that Trump had the authority to fire Rebecca Slaughter. The ruling shifted quite a lot of power from Congress to the president, and has ushered in one of the largest changes to the federal government in decades.This story has been updated.

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Is Marco Rubio the Happiest Cabinet Member?

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Is Marco Rubio the Happiest Cabinet Member?

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