When things go wrong in Washington, someone usually takes the blame. But in the chaotic aftermath of the U.S.-Israel military campaign against Iran, one senior official has largely managed to stay out of the line of fire — and it may surprise you who.
It’s not President Donald Trump. It’s not Vice President JD Vance. It’s not Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. It’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio — the man who has quietly been doing two of the most demanding jobs in the U.S. government at the same time.
For nearly a year, Rubio has served simultaneously as secretary of state and as Trump’s national security adviser. Critics say those roles are nearly impossible to do well at the same time.
And yet, even as questions swirl about the administration’s preparation for the Feb. 28 operation and its messy aftermath — oil-price spikes, drones targeting U.S. embassies, muddled public messaging — Rubio has largely walked away unscathed.
How? That’s the question worth asking.
The criticism that never quite landed
To be fair, Rubio didn’t escape entirely without scrutiny. He raised eyebrows when he suggested Israel had pulled the U.S. into the conflict — a comment he quickly walked back.
He also faced criticism over delays in evacuating American diplomats and citizens. But neither moment gained the kind of traction that stuck to his colleagues.
Curt Mills of The American Conservative didn’t mince words about it.
“He deserved more criticism,” Mills said — before acknowledging the obvious reality shaping the conversation. There’s “a halo around the guy” in Republican circles, he added.
That halo is real, and it’s doing a lot of work. Rubio is widely seen as one of the more competent, measured voices in an administration that has not always been associated with either of those things.
That perception has become a kind of political armor.
Even Democrats seem reluctant to go after him too hard — and the reason one senator gave was remarkably candid.
“He’s the least crazy,” an anonymous Democratic senator said. “If he gets fired, Trump would replace him with someone a lot worse.”
The administration fires back
The State Department had little patience for the suggestion that Rubio was disengaged or uninvolved. Spokesperson Tommy Pigott called the premise flat-out “ridiculous.”
“Over 50,000 Americans have been provided security guidance and travel assistance by our 24/7 task force,” Pigott said.
The White House backed him up, saying Rubio is working “in lockstep” with the president. Spokeswoman Olivia Wales put it even more bluntly.
“The United States is crushing the Iranian terrorist regime,” Wales said.
A leaner NSC — critics say too lean
Here’s where things get more complicated. Reporting shows Rubio moved to shrink the National Security Council staff and scale back the kind of cross-agency meetings that typically happen before a major military operation.
Instead, sensitive discussions were funneled into the West Wing.
Critics say that left key government agencies on the sidelines — and the broader national security apparatus unprepared for consequences that, in hindsight, weren’t exactly hard to see coming.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., put it plainly: Rubio’s regime-change instincts may have quietly discouraged the kind of tough internal debate that could have caught problems before they became crises.
Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, agreed that Rubio bore some responsibility — but also acknowledged the bind Rubio was in.
“He deserved blame for not pushing a fuller process,” Daalder said, while noting the president would have quickly removed him for doing so.
It’s a damning Catch-22: push back on the president and lose your seat at the table, or stay quiet and share responsibility for what follows.
So why does the insulation hold?
The answer, really, is a mix of factors that all happen to work in Rubio’s favor at the same time"
- Public attention is squarely on Trump.
- Rubio’s reputation as a steadying hand gives him credibility to burn.
- The ambiguity of his dual roles makes it easy to blur lines of accountability.
- And both Republicans and Democrats, for different reasons, have little appetite to go after him.
Whether that shield holds is another question entirely.
The conflict with Iran is still unfolding. And if the process gaps critics are describing lead to consequences too big to ignore, the halo around Marco Rubio might not be quite so durable after all.
Our conversation
Jacksonville University political analyst Matt Corrigan joins me on this week’s episode of Politics & Power to discuss:
- How Rubio’s dual roles provide political cover amid U.S.-Iran war scrutiny
- Trump’s Iran operation fallout: Why Rubio isn’t taking the heat
- How Republican insulation, Democratic caution protect Rubio from Iran criticism
- Whether Marco Rubio, Secretary of State is competent, cautious — accountable?
Watch live at 10:30 a.m. on News4JAX+ or catch our encore shows at 7 p.m. or 9 p.m. Tuesday on News4JAX+.
You can also watch any time on demand on News4JAX+, News4JAX.com and our YouTube channel.