If you thought that Marco Rubio would be a voice of reason within the larger Trump administration, you may want to reconsider your opinion.
According to reporting by Semafor, the former Florida Senator will appoint Darren Beattie as acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. This is the same man who was fired from the first administration for speaking at a white nationalist conference. Dig a bit deeper and a backlog of tweets does not hide Beattie’s sexist and racist views. One of these blatantly states that white men should be in charge of everything.
As news of Beattie’s pending appointment broke, the internet rediscovered this gem from October of 2024. Many expressed their outrage in their replies. “Coddling women? Women have had to carry the backbone for white men their entire lives to protect the fragile egos of white men.,” one X user quipped. “A statement like this is almost enough to make me become a Democrat. Tell me he really didn’t say this!” another clapped back. This X user should have seen this coming.
During Trump’s first term Beattie worked as a speechwriter. According to the Washington Post, He was let go after a CNN article outed his extracurricular activities in 2018 but continued to support Trump and the MAGA community at large. He founded Revolver News, a right-wing media outlet that is known to promote false conspiracy theories including those about the January 6 riots.
It wasn’t long before Trump rehired Beattie late in his first term. In November 2020 he was appointed to the Commission for the Preservation of American Heritage Abroad, a special task force whose duties included preserving historical sites linked to the Holocaust. The Anti-Defamation League took immediate issue with Beattie’s three year appointment stating that it was “absolutely outrageous” because Beattie was “someone who has consorted with racists.”
Beattie fired back. “The ADL pretends to be an organization that protects Jews, but it really exists to protect Democrats,” he explained to The New York Times. “As a Jewish Trump supporter, I consider it an honor to be attacked by the far-left ADL and its disgraced leader, Jonathan Greenblatt.”
In 2022, President Biden removed Beattie and several other Trump appointees from the commission. Beattie’s new post under the second Trump administration is an important one. He will be instrumental in shaping “overall public outreach and press strategies,” according to ABC News. It is not known at this time if this post will be permanent or not. Perhaps there is room here for the public to speak out against this. Beattie’s tweet about wanting white men in charge is not the only controversial opinion he has expressed on X. During the January 6 riots, he targeted prominent Black leaders telling them to “bend the knee” to MAGA.
Beattie also believes it is no big deal if China takes over Taiwan. Instead of defending the country, he urged the United States to cash in on the opportunity.
Beattie’s racism and sexism are not thinly veiled. Appointing a man with these viewpoints is dangerous and goes directly against the ideals America should stand for. Let’s hope the “acting” part of his job description does not give way to something more permanent.
Published: Feb 4, 2025 09:00 am