By Simon Lewis

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday defended a right-wing ideologue with a history of inflammatory comments on women and minorities whom the Trump administration has appointed to a top State Department role, adding that his focus would be on eliminating censorship.

Darren Beattie has been named the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a senior State Department official said earlier this week, a role that determines the tone of America’s public messaging in the world.

Rubio declined to comment on Beattie’s controversial statements and did not respond when asked if he had seen Beattie’s X account, where he has advocated for white men being “in charge” and questioned U.S. policy toward Taiwan in posts.

Rubio said the administration has a nominee for a permanent person to take up the position, but that while acting as the top public diplomacy official, Beattie will be focused on not allowing the department to be involved in censorship.

“In the meantime, he’s someone who was brought on board because he’s strongly committed to ending the censorship programs that were being operated out of the State Department, which can no longer continue and will no longer continue,” Rubio said, without clarifying what he meant by censorship at the State Department or providing evidence of such programs.

It was unclear who has been nominated to take up the role on a permanent basis, and Senate confirmation could take time. Beattie would require Senate confirmation to serve on a permanent basis.

Beattie’s earlier social media posts have come under the spotlight since his appointment, prompting a warning from Jewish advocacy group Anti-Defamation League which said he “has no place in a role representing American values abroad.”

He was terminated as a speech writer for Trump after The Washington Post in 2018 reported that he had spoken at a conference attended by well-known white nationalists.

In a post on X last October, Beattie wrote that America’s national ideology is based on “coddling the feelings of women and minorities, and demoralizing competent white men” and that “Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.”

He questioned U.S. policy towards Taiwan, saying that the democratically-governed island was “inevitably” going to belong to China, and that it was “not worth expending any capital to prevent.”

In July 2024, he wrote that Taiwan being absorbed into China “might mean fewer drag queen parades in Taiwan, but otherwise not the end of the world.”

(Reporting by Simon Lewis in Guatemala City and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell)

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