Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered the Federalist Society's 25th Annual Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on Friday, November 13, 2026, in his first major address since Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress in the November 3 midterm elections. The lecture, titled "Enemies in War, in Peace Friends," ranged across the economy, the role of American power abroad and the future of the conservative legal movement.
"We have much more to do over the next two, the next six, the next 20 years. Great things that last are built in decades, not election cycles," Rubio said, drawing on the darkest days of the Revolutionary War in 1776 to urge patience through setbacks. He said economic prosperity is "not self-perpetuating" but "an enormous undertaking that requires years and decades and is not accomplished election cycle to election cycle."
Rubio acknowledged the economic pain voters cited in the midterms. "I think we have to recognize that people are struggling. There's no doubt about it," he said. "The health of our economy has nothing to do with the stock market. The health of their economy is whether they have enough money to be able to afford the things they need." He warned of "a legitimate fear that we will be the first generation to leave the next worse off, and that can't happen. That's un-American."
On foreign policy, Rubio said the job of America's government and its leaders is to work for Americans. "Our number one objective must always be what's in the national interest of the United States, and we shouldn't feel guilty about it," he said. He added that the United States has to be involved in the world "because whether we're involved in the world or not, the world will be involved with us."
Rubio also defended the decision to take down the rows of foreign flags that had lined the State Department atrium since 1961 and replace them with American flags. "There was a huge outrage," he said. "We had these flags at the State Department when you walk in and we had all these flags of all these different countries. And I, look, I didn't go in with like a crusade to remove the flags. We left it there for a year and a half, but then for America 250 we made them all American flags, okay?" The change was made for the nation's 250th anniversary, and the department then left the American flags in place.
"And then we left them there after 250 and people are going crazy, 'Oh my God, they're abandoning the world,'" Rubio continued. "I said, no, we're not the United Nations. Take the flag, the United Nations can have all those flags. It's the State Department of the United States." He said the building represents the United States government conducting foreign policy, and the people walking through its doors are there to advance American interests first.
The change is in line with the State Department's "One Flag Policy" adopted in January, under which only the American flag is authorized at U.S. facilities at home and abroad, with exceptions for the POW/MIA emblem and the Wrongful Detainees flag. Some current and former diplomats criticized the removal of the foreign flags; supporters called it a long-overdue correction.
Rubio again declined to discuss a possible 2028 presidential run, repeating that he would not stand against Vice President JD Vance.
Rubio's remarks on Iran in the same speech are covered separately on Profilo Politics: Marco Rubio Warns a Nuclear-Armed Iran Could Hold the Middle East and the U.S. Hostage.