Marco Rubio: “Versailles Again”
This is an entirely fictional creative work. It does not represent the actual thoughts, words, or views of any real person. This is satire and literary fiction for entertainment purposes.
March 26, 2026
Marco Rubio — U.S. Secretary of State
Versailles Again
March 26, 2026
On the plane now. Couldn't sleep. The cabin has that recycled air smell that I've never gotten used to no matter how many times I fly government aircraft. Jeanette texted before takeoff — she said the boys are doing fine, Amanda has a cold, and to please eat something real and not just the trail mix I keep in my briefcase. She knows me too well. I told her I would. I probably won't.
Briefing materials spread across the table. Forty pages of talking points, energy data, regional threat assessments. I've read them twice. The problem is not that I don't know the arguments. The problem is I know the counterarguments better than the people I'm about to face, and they don't even have to be that sharp to land them.
Here is the reality. I am going to sit across from allies — and I use that word loosely for some of them right now — who will look me in the eye and say this is America's war. And they're not entirely wrong. But they're not entirely right either. Iran has been the central destabilizing force in the Middle East for decades. I've been saying this since I was in the Senate. This is not new. What's new is that the world finally has to deal with it instead of writing sternly worded letters about it.
But try explaining that to the French foreign minister when gas in Paris is at levels they haven't seen since the Ukraine crisis. Try explaining strategic patience when the 82nd Airborne is wheels up to the Gulf. I found out about the deployment order the same time the press did, which is — look, I'm not going to write that down. But it makes the job harder. You're trying to signal diplomatic resolve and someone else is signaling something very different, and you end up looking like you don't talk to each other. Which sometimes.
I keep thinking about my father. He came to this country from Cuba with nothing. He would have found it unbelievable — actually impossible to process — that his son is flying to France to represent the United States of America at the palace of Versailles. The literal palace. And part of me still finds it that way too. But there's another part, the part I don't say publicly, that wonders if the kid from West Miami who used to read history books about great diplomats is now just the guy they send out to sell a policy he didn't fully shape.
That's not fair. I believe in the objective. The Iranian regime is a threat to everything we care about — Israel, the Gulf states, nonproliferation, basic stability. I said that in the press conference today with total conviction because I have total conviction. What I don't have total conviction about is the sequencing. Or the messaging. Or whether the coalition I'm supposed to build has any realistic foundation when we spent the first year of this administration telling Europe they're freeloaders.
You can't humiliate people and then ask them to follow you into a war. You just can't. I know that from Miami politics, I know that from the Senate, I know that from life. But I also know my role, and my role right now is to make this work. So I will walk into that room near Versailles and I will be the most prepared person there, and I will make the case with clarity and force, and I will look for the bilateral openings on the margins. The Brits will be closest to us. The Germans will be the hardest. The French will posture but they have equities in Lebanon that give us leverage.
I just wish I knew what the President is going to post while I'm mid-meeting. Last time I was in a bilateral and my phone started buzzing and I could see my counterpart's aide showing him something on a screen and I knew — I just knew — before anyone told me.
Ate half a sandwich. Turkey on white. Stale. Jeanette was right.
Need to sleep for at least three hours or I'll be useless. The talking points are solid. The strategy is sound. The terrain is what it is.
I keep telling myself that the history books will show we were right about Iran. Maybe they will. Maybe what they'll actually show is
AFTER THE CAMERAS is a daily publication of speculative psychological fiction. Each entry imagines the private thoughts of a public figure on the day's biggest story. No entry represents real thoughts, statements, or beliefs of any individual. All internal monologue, emotional reactions, and private observations are entirely invented. External events referenced are real; inner experiences are fictional. All content is created for entertainment purposes only.