At a 2006 Gdansk seminar to mark the 25th anniversary of Poland’s Solidarity Movement, former Carter administration national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski spoke about the moral imperative of liberty. He saw the fall of the Iron Curtain in the willingness of both Democrats and Republicans to oppose communism and stand up for liberty. At dinner, however, several Iranian dissidents approached Brzezinski and asked why he had supported freedom in Poland but not in Iran, on which he had become a vocal proponent of appeasement. Brzezinski’s response? He got up and walked away.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is increasingly taking a page from Brzezinski. Rubio is the most clear-eyed member of the Trump administration in recognizing the value of liberty, though he has repressed his own instincts on fights like Ukraine to keep his job. Critics can criticize, but Rubio serves at his boss’s pleasure and must follow Trump’s orders.
