This is The Guardian.

Today, from Little Marco to the viceroy of Venezuela.

We're only a fortnight into 2026.

And yet Donald Trump has aggressively provoked one global crisis after another.

And there's been one man by his side through all of it.

Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.

Step one is the stabilization of the country.

We don't want it descending into chaos.

He's been deeply involved in the U.S. attack against Venezuela.

Front and center in negotiations over Greenland.

Does the U.S. intent to buy Greenland? Can you clarify your comments to lawmakers this week?

Well, that's always been the president's intent from the very beginning. He said it very

early on. And now, promising support to the protesters in Iran.

Once a fierce critic of all things Trump, Marco Rubio is now one of the president's closest allies,

and, on paper at least, the most powerful American diplomat since Henry Kissinger. He's a serious player in Trump's White House. There's been reporting around this. There was the Vanity Fair profile heard around the world that J.D. Vance kind of joke to the photographer. You know, I'll pay you if you make me look better than the other cabinet secretaries,

and I'll pay you twice as much if you make me look better than Marco Rubio,

because they're seen as sort of rival potential heirs to Trumpism into the Maga universe.

But how far will he go?

Can he go for the president?

And where might this gamble take him?

From The Guardian, I'm Noshinik Dahl.

Today in focus, Marco Rubio,

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