Rubio Calls on the West to Stop Apologizing for Its Greatness and Start Defending It

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Greece working on security and energy agreements with the country's leaders. 

As we reported earlier, he absolutely dissected a reporter who was asking about an unconfirmed rumor. 

But then he stood in front of the Acropolis, with all that history literally at his back, and delivered a rousing speech on the greatness of Western civilization and how we had to work together to preserve it. 

He opened by discussing the origins of Western civilization, praising what we had inherited from the Greeks. 

.@SecRubio in Athens: "For thousands of years, the civilizations that built what stands behind me have captivated the imagination of the Western world." https://t.co/7ixBusf6G1

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 7, 2026

Then he discussed how that inheritance shaped America and the traits that defined the West. 

.@SecRubio: "The things we owe to this place as Americans — and as Westerners — are actually far, far deeper... What blossomed here in this place was the Western desire to uncover all that ignorance, darkness, and distance had kept hidden from the mind of man." https://t.co/6GTzwB8Mc4 pic.twitter.com/MpVem9Erhc

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 7, 2026

The idea that there is an order to the cosmos, governed by certain fundamental laws that men can observe, was part of this inheritance. "It is the conviction that the unknown can be known...This was the foundation of the Western mind." It gave birth to a common view of man and his place in the universe. This is great, particularly the end. 

.@SecRubio: "Too often, these days, we build downwards. We design our standards to ensure that no one will lose. We preoccupy ourselves more with the comfort of the worst than the potential of the best. We hold the most exceptional things among us hostage to the average." https://t.co/aYIa4JY1xD pic.twitter.com/p0Ln4xpRYe

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 7, 2026

"Too often, these days, we build downwards. We design our standards to ensure that no one will lose. We preoccupy ourselves more with the comfort of the worst than the potential of the best. We hold the most exceptional things among us hostage to the average."

Today too much of the West has forgotten this inheritance, he said. They've become "ashamed of the very things that made us exceptional." 

"The word 'nationalism' became a dirty word," he said. 

"And so we tore down our monuments, we condemned our own history, and in too many places we taught our children to be ashamed of the countries they would inherit. In the process, we opened our borders and outsourced our industry, and allowed out militaries to wither and decay." 

With every passing year, he said, we passed our decisions to global bureaucracies beyond our control.

As that went on, the enemies of the West grew stronger. The course we take over the next decade will set the course for the next century. "We will either choose to act now, or lose the choice to act at all," he warned.  

Now, while he was talking to the allies, Rubio declared that the U.S. had made its choice.

.@SecRubio: "Under President Trump, the United States has made its choice. We choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power, to take back control of our critical supply chains, to reindustrialize our economy, to rebuild our defense, to fight for dominance of the technologies… https://t.co/ddncczRhp9 pic.twitter.com/ZsIbUYiWQY

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 7, 2026

"We choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power, to take back control of our critical supply chains, to reindustrialize our economy, to rebuild our defense, to fight for dominance of the technologies and industries of the future."

This is what we hope to reclaim for our country and for civilization, Rubio declared. 

But we still have to deal with those who would fight or challenge us, and a variety of threats. 

.@SecRubio: "We are at an inflection point, not only in the history of my nation, but an inflection point in the whole of our civilization... We must rebuild our institutions and our alliances to face these threats together — understanding that the purpose of these things is not… https://t.co/L8Ce6VoyKD pic.twitter.com/LMUnitFIVR

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 7, 2026

In working together, he made the great point that alliances can preserve the distinct identities of the nations, not abandon them, while working to recognize their common interests."

Here's the full speech. It's fantastic. 

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