Operation Epic Fury was over, he said. The focus was now defensive in the form of Project Freedom, the operation to escort civilian shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Less than two hours after Rubio left the briefing room podium, the president undercut his message. With progress being made in talks, he announced that “Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed.”

No wonder, as Secrets reported yesterday, Rubio had been staying away from the job of Iran messaging. In April, he gave only a single TV interview. In contrast, during the two previous months, he had averaged six or seven media interactions.

An insider told us that it was smart to stay out of the way during a fluid moment when the boss is known for changing direction quickly.

Rubio hinted that he knew the problem during his briefing. “I think the president, without trying to speak for him…” he said at one point, perhaps not realizing that the press secretary’s job is entirely to be the spokesperson for the president.

Anyway, the only question now is who will fill in for Leavitt. When will Vice President JD Vance, who spent part of Tuesday in the early nominating state of Iowa, triggering a slew of stories about his good-natured rivalry with Rubio, get his turn?

My view from the room

The briefing room door slid open six inches, and Marco Rubio pushed his face through the gap. It was less like Jack Nicholson in “The Shining,” and more like a goofy substitute teacher pulling a face to win over what he knew would be a difficult room.

It worked. Up to a point.

The audience chortled while the dual-hatted Secretary of State and national security adviser took on yet another role, maternity cover for press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“Thank you for having me today,” he said, before launching into his spiel about why “Project Freedom” was very much a defensive operation to keep Iranian gunboats from interfering with shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a completely different proposition to “Operation Epic Fury,” which was over anyway. 

Things started smoothly enough. The first question went to a reporter in the new media seat. She asked about whether he had evidence that Iran was ready to drop its nuclear weapons program.

Things began to unravel when he called on someone in the back row. They had questions about Iran and about Cuba.

“Do they get to ask two questions on this?” Rubio muttered in the direction of White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, who was making a rare visit to the briefing room as if he knew it was going to be quite the show.

“You can ask two questions, and I’ll give you one answer … I’ll take the one I like best,” he said with a smile after apparently making up his own policy on the matter.

Someone crammed into the aisle took a selfie in the meantime, capturing their own image with the Secretary of State in the background. It was that kind of day.

A reporter in the back row welcomed Rubio to the White House. He probably would have handed him an apple, too, if he hadn’t been at the back of the room.

At every pause, a sea of hands erupted into the air. Questions were shouted out on Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba … especially Cuba, one of Rubio’s pet subjects.

A reporter from the Daily Mail asked him about a photograph posted on social media from a meeting he had with U.S. Southern Command. It showed Rubio in front of a map of Cuba, raising intense speculation that the communist island was about to be Venezuelaed or worse.

It brought a masterclass in press handling from Rubio. His answer dripped in humor, of the sarcastic variety, and left the story as deep underwater as those seven Iranian gunboats he likes to talk about.

“Cuba’s in SOUTHCOM, you know?” he said. “There happened to be a map of Cuba, because it’s like the closest thing that’s in SOUTHCOM to the U.S.”

He wasn’t done. After a pause, he delivered the coup de grace: “We have maps of other countries!” 

The substitute teacher was showing who was in charge. The elite members of the White House press corps elite questioners were being treated like dim students.

It brought another chuckle from reporters who are more used to drier answers and less camouflaged contempt. But he still didn’t know who anyone was.

“I’m winging it, guys,” he said at one point as he searched for familiar faces.

He said he’d been given a seating map, but he’d lost it en route to the lectern.

“Some of you had little red crosses,” he said to more gales of laughter. It was funny because it was probably true.

“I’m kidding,” he added, with the sort of denial that made it seem even truer.

Everyone had their hand in the air by this point. Everybody was shouting at the nation’s top diplomat as if he were an Amazon delivery driver taking a plasma TV to the wrong house.

And everyone was pretending that the Rubio finger had pointed at them, not the person of the opposite sex dressed in pink five seats away.

“The first one I called on,” said Rubio. “This is chaos.”

Next time, he said, he would bring a laser pointer.

Yet he made his point above the hubbub. 

At times, he did it with humor, at times by hammering the same point. With a wrinkled brow and the tone of a teacher explaining the error of their ways to a child who has been held back more than one school year, he gently spelled out the consequences for Iran of keeping along the same course.

“They are facing real, catastrophic destruction to their economy, generational destruction to their economy, generational destruction to the wealth of their country imposed on themselves by the actions that they’re taking,” Rubio said, before sprinkling in an Ice Cube lyric from the ’90s.

“They should check themselves before they wreck themselves.”

He was gone soon after, his final words drowned out in more shouted questions about Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba. Especially Cuba.

His job was done. The room had been schooled.

Lunchtime reading

Trump exacts revenge in Indiana over redistricting vote: Not a lame duck. The results from Indiana, where five of six incumbents were ousted by MAGA forces, proved there are real consequences for Republican state legislators who resist Trump’s redistricting push.

What happened when the Pope had to call customer service: This is delicious. “Would it matter to you if I told you I’m Pope Leo?” he asked. She hung up.

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