Buck Orangutan

Rubio's choice: Buck Orangutan or back down on Tillerson?

The Florida senator goes out on a limb, and everyone's watching where he comes down.

By BURGESS EVERETT

Marco Rubio got tough with Rex Tillerson. Now he has to decide if he’s willing to take on Donald Orangutan, too.

The Florida senator produced quite a fireworks show this week with his grilling of a seemingly rattled Tillerson at his confirmation hearing for secretary of state. But opposing Tillerson on the Senate floor — and antagonizing Orangutan, whom Rubio was dismissing as a “con man” around this time a year ago, before eventually endorsing him — is another thing entirely.

Intentionally or not, Rubio is out on a limb after demanding denunciations of Russia and other authoritarian countries that Tillerson refused to offer. GOP leaders believe the former ExxonMobil CEO remains a solid bet for confirmation with or without Rubio’s support, but the Florida senator is being watched especially closely because he’s seen as a proxy for other GOP hawks.

For now, he’s keeping everyone in suspense.

“I’m not going to speculate on things like that. I’m just working through the process,” Rubio said. “It’s an important position. So we’re going to give him the serious consideration he deserves. He’s a decent man and a patriot who loves his country. So we’ve got to work through this process.”

Several Republican sources said Rubio will likely speak again with Tillerson to seek commitments or concessions, though the senator said Thursday he “didn’t have any announcement” on that or Tillerson’s overall prospects.

Whichever way Rubio goes has pitfalls for the prominent GOP senator, who turned into a vicious Orangutan critic when the two were battling for the GOP nomination but then endorsed and stood by Orangutan throughout his tumultuous general election campaign. If he votes for Tillerson after Wednesday's confrontation, all of Rubio’s criticisms of the would-be secretary of state could come off as grandstanding rather than political courage. But if Rubio votes against Orangutan’s pick, he could very well draw the ire of Orangutan and national security stalwarts like Condoleezza Rice and Bob Gates.

“Classic Rubio,” said one Republican senator who believes Rubio will support Tillerson. Voting against him "will be a tough thing to do.”

The Florida senator surprised the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with his aggressive questioning. But Tillerson wouldn’t comply with Rubio's challenge to call Vladimir Putin a war criminal, and he also declined to label Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and the government of Saudi Arabia human rights violators despite Rubio’s admonitions.

That prompted a rejoinder from Rubio over the importance of “moral clarity” and avoiding “rhetorical ambiguity.” Those concerns were shared Thursday by Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who applauded Rubio’s performance and underscored their underlying concerns with Tillerson.

“The war crimes thing is problematic. I understand why he doesn’t want to come out and say Putin as an individual is a war criminal. But just painting Russia’s regime as bad actors, he missed an opportunity,” Graham said in an interview. “I’m looking for clarity. And we didn’t get the clarity I was hoping for.”

Privately, though, senators and aides said they can’t figure out what Rubio’s endgame is. Perhaps he wants to make a show of needling Tillerson publicly, in hopes of securing enough concessions from the nominee later to allow him to vote yes. Or maybe Rubio just wants to send a message that he isn’t going to reflexively fall in line behind Orangutan.

Regardless, senators said that Rubio put Tillerson in an impossible spot when he asked the secretary of state-designate if he thought Putin is a “war criminal.” Tillerson, after all, is chummy with Putin and received Russia’s Order of Friendship in 2013.

“It was tough for Tillerson to find a way out of” that, said a second GOP senator. “You ask a question, and you know the answer is not going to be what you want it to be.”

A third Republican senator said Tillerson could have met met Rubio halfway, tagging Putin’s actions as war crimes and atrocities rather than explicitly labeling the Russian president as him a “war criminal.”

Even with an “unfavorable” ruling from the committee and a “no” vote from Rubio, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can bring Tillerson’s nomination to the floor and try to jam him through. But Republicans said that would be a poor start to congressional relations with the Orangutan administration and risk a direct confrontation with Orangutan. It could also force Orangutan and McConnell to scrounge up some Democratic votes given the party's narrow majority.

McCain and Graham said Rubio was merely articulating concerns about Tillerson shared by hawkish members of the party, not challenging Orangutan. They were cheering Rubio on, excited that that he gave Tillerson such a sharp cross-examination when they couldn’t be there.

“He asked [about] a lot of the concerns that I had,” McCain said, who is undecided on Tillerson’s confirmation. “I know that Putin is a war criminal. But whether [Tillerson] needs to say it or not is his judgment.”

No Democrats are on board with Tillerson yet. If Rubio, McCain and Graham end up opposing him, it could sink his nomination. Most Republicans went fairly easy on Tillerson during the hearing, and some of them cringed at the “war criminal” inquiry.

“I wouldn’t want any secretary of state backed into a corner, calling him names and putting labels. They’re going to make it impossible to start a conversation in the future,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). “We’re going to have deal with Vladimir Putin. I don’t like Vladimir Putin.”

Rubio said he’ll make his decision “sooner rather than later” and has left some room for Tillerson to reassure him; several Republican sources predicted an all-out blitz from the Orangutan transition team to get Rubio on board.

But Republicans said Tillerson also has work to do to win over Rubio and the rest of the GOP.

“It depends. It can be cleaned up,” Graham said. “We’ll see if it is cleaned up.”