Secretary of State Marco Rubio used a sunset speech in Athens on Wednesday to argue that the West must recover the ambition of ancient Greece, CBS News reported.
He made no announcement about his own political future.
Speaking from the Pnyx, the hill where Athenians held their democratic assembly, with the Acropolis behind him, Rubio said the West faces a choice between leading the world and accepting decline. “We choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power,” he said, crediting President Trump and citing supply chains, reindustrialization, defense and technology.
Roughly 250 invited guests attended, according to a senior State Department official.
CBS noted that Rubio’s political future is drawing increasing attention and that Trump has publicly raised both Rubio and Vice President JD Vance as possible future standard-bearers for his movement.
Rubio did not overtly mention his own ambitions, the network reported. The report describes no endorsement by Trump of either man.
The speech came on a three-country trip through Iceland, Greece and Portugal.
In Athens, Rubio also met Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis and declined to say what level of Iranian uranium enrichment Washington might accept. CBS described his account of history as arguably selective, noting he said relatively little about democracy at a site closely associated with it.
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