Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Wednesday that the West is at “an inflection point,” and urged European nations to join with the US in “confronting the threats of our age” during a major speech in Athens, Greece.
With the Acropolis providing a striking backdrop, Rubio called on Europe to “awaken from its long slumber and rekindle the fire that was here millennia ago,” in a highly allusive address that referred to both classical and American history — with allusions to both Achilles and The Alamo.
“We are at an inflection point, an inflection point not only in the history of my nation, but an inflection point in the whole of our civilization,” Rubio said as the setting sun threw the Parthenon into brilliant relief. “The threats we face today are every bit as real as they were on the dramatic stage of antiquity.”
“We want to win together; we must win together,” he added in the nearly 30-minute address delivered in what has been called the cradle of civilization.
Rubio’s remarks came amid speculation about a future presidential run — potentially as soon as 2028 — though he has dismissed talk of seeking higher office.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Staten Island Republican, shared a statement on X proclaiming Rubio not only “the best Secretary of State of my lifetime, but perhaps one of the best in our nation’s history.”
“With this speech, he once again proves that he is the future of both our party and our nation,” Malliotakis said.
On Wednesday, the former Florida senator frequently cited famous speeches by past chief executives, at times borrowing from Abraham Lincoln or John F. Kennedy.
“Though passions may, at times, have strained the bonds of affection between the United States and Europe, it must not be allowed to break them,” Rubio intoned.
His speech also came on the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel, as he mentioned terrorism as one of the greatest threats facing Western societies.
Additionally, he gave a full-throated defense of the 47th commander-in-chief’s “America First” policies, even as the Trump administration deals with plummeting approval over the downstream effects of the Iran war.
“Under President Trump, the United States has made its choice,” Rubio said. “We choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power, to take back control of our critical supply chains, to reindustrialize our economy, to rebuild our defense, to fight for dominance of the technologies and industries of the future.”
He also rebuked Western nations for having abandoned ideals of heroism and retreating into “a world of perfect safety, a world devoid of risk or failure — or neither the glory of victory nor the shame of defeat.”
“The word nationalism became a dirty word,” Rubio continued. “And so we tore down our monuments. We condemned our own history, and in too many places, we taught our children to be ashamed of the countries they would inherit.”
“This is wholly different from what we see even now, for example, from fanatics like the radical mullahs of Iran, whose cult of death hailed child suicide bombers as national heroes and portrays martyrdom as an end to itself,” he warned.
At several points, the secretary expressed hope that “all of Europe” would follow Greece’s example in strengthening its alliance with the US by returning to its civilizational roots.
“We should marvel at what our forefathers carved out of this countryside,” he concluded. “The story of our civilization is the greatest story ever known to man, and it began here with the first men and women of the West.”
“From them … we can rediscover the virtues,” the secretary added, “the courage and the strength to confront the dangers that we face in our time.”
Source: nypost.com
