Rubio signals opposition to Biden Cabinet picks

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Tuesday sharply criticized a number of President-elect Joe Biden’s intended Cabinet nominees, calling them “caretakers of America’s decline” and suggesting he might vote against their confirmation next year.

In a tweet Tuesday morning, the Florida Republican suggested that the president-elect’s nominees “went to Ivy League schools, have strong resumes, attend all the right conferences & will be polite & orderly caretakers of America’s decline.”

“I support American greatness,” the senator continued, adding: “And I have no interest in returning to the ‘normal’ that left us dependent on China.”

Biden’s cabinet picks went to Ivy League schools,have strong resumes,attend all the right conferences & will be polite & orderly caretakers of America’s decline

I support American greatness

And I have no interest in returning to the “normal” that left us dependent on China

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 24, 2020

Rubio’s remarks come a day after Biden announced that he would nominate his longtime aide Antony Blinken to lead the State Department while former assistant Secretary of State Linda Thomas-Greenfield would be his pick to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Both roles require Senate confirmation.

The Florida senator, who is one of a handful of GOP senators to acknowledge Biden as the victor of the 2020 election, previously ran against President Trump in the 2016 GOP primary and is seen as a potential contender for the 2024 Republican nomination.

Rubio attacked the Ivy League credentials of Biden’s picks as he has positioned himself in recent weeks as a proponent of the GOP’s shift towards targeting working-class voters. Earlier this month said that the future of his party was “based on a multiethnic, multiracial, working-class coalition” of supporters.

“If the takeaway from all of them is now is the time to go back to sort of the traditional party of unfettered free trade, I think we’re gonna lose the [Trump] base as quickly as we got it. … We can’t just go back to being that,” the senator added in an interview with Axios.