Marco Rubio is being viewed with suspicion by Trump loyalists after he fired MAGA acolyte Pete Marocco from the State Department where Marocco worked to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), according to reporting in Politico.
Reasons for the firing ranged from Marocco's "bulldozer operating style and failure to work effectively with colleagues" to "substantive disagreements between Rubio and Marocco over how to dismantle USAID," wrote reporters Dasha Burns and Nahal Toosi.
President Donald Trump’s loyalists viewed Marocco "as part of an elite cohort of administration true believers," and were reportedly shocked by the firing. "Loud voices on the right piled on Secretary of State Marco Rubio, accusing him of undermining their disruptive agenda," the report said.
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Four anonymous officials told the reporters that Rubio fired Marocco outright, while another official claimed Rubio received clearance from a White House aide before letting Marocco go. That official described the situation as “the first MAGA world killing from inside the White House.”
Since Marocco's ouster, MAGA allies have "raised new suspicions of Rubio, including questions about why he would want to protect USAID and whether he’s loyal to the president," the report said.
Marocco had served as the USAID acting deputy administrator before handing control over to a member of Elon Musk's DOGE team in March. In a memo to staff, Marocco said he would return to his post as director of the State Department's Foreign Assistance bureau, before word of his firing broke last week.
"The anger directed at Rubio by MAGA firebrands provides a vivid illustration of the ongoing feud between MAGA world and the conservatives they view as too much a part of the establishment they want dismantled," the report said.
They quoted one Trump ally who said of Rubio, “He’s really not a MAGA guy, he’s a neocon,“ adding that this move “is gonna bite him.”