Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Tuesday morning. According to the State Department, he was there to discuss the FY26 Department of State Budget Request. Having watched most of the hearing myself, I think he was just there to have old white people and Cory Booker act like condescending jerks. 

A few things stood out. One, some of these senators are incredibly ignorant about the way the world works outside of the United States and don't need to be on any committee related to foreign policy. Two, Rubio is a thousand times smarter than most of these people put together — if it wasn't so satisfying to watch, I'd be suffering from secondhand embarrassment for some of these senators after watching the secretary wipe the smug smiles off their faces with his facts and inability to be shaken. 

But the exchange that stood out the most was the one between Rubio and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) — you know, the senator whom no one knew existed until he boarded a flight to El Salvador to wine and dine a human trafficker, wife-beater, and gang banger.  

Rather than use his time to actually ask Rubio questions — even crazy Tim Kaine managed to actually do that — Van Hollen spent seven minutes berating the Secretary on everything from USAID to revoking visas from students with ties to terrorism and, of course, his favorite topic: Kilmar Abrego Garcia. 

He even attacked Rubio personally. "I have to tell you directly and personally that I regret voting for you as Secretary of State," he said at the end of his remarks. 

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Rubio — after asking committee chairman Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) if he could respond, given that Van Hollen never actually asked a question — didn't miss a beat. "Your regret voting for me confirms I’m doing a good job."  

You have to watch it for yourself. Go ahead and take a minute to watch it a few times if you want: 

Of course, Van Hollen didn't like that. "That's just a flippant statement," he said. But then things got even more heated. 

Van Hollen didn't want Rubio to have a chance to respond and complained to Risch that he hadn't actually asked any questions. Risch wasn't having it. He told Van Hollen that Rubio was allowed to respond and reprimanded him for essentially wasting his time. "Your remarks do not represent the view of this committee," Risch said to Van Hollen. 

"I chose to use my time that way, Mr. Chairman. That's my right to use my time that way," Van Hollen said.  

Rubio then started responding to Van Hollen's accusations, but the senator from Maryland would not shut up. He started carrying on about how Rubio should "take his testimony to the federal court of the United States." 

At one point, all three men were talking, gavels were banging, and Van Hollen was still acting like a petulant child. 

Instead of summarizing the rest of the conversation, I'm going to post a video and let you see it for yourself, but I do have to point out the best line of the whole back-and-forth. 

On the topic of Abrego Garcia, Rubio said, "In the case of El Salvador, absolutely. We deported gang members, gang members, including the one you had a margarita with. And that guy is a human trafficker, and that guy is a gangbanger, and that evidence is gonna be clear in the days to come." 

Van Hollen didn't like that one bit. "Mr. Chairman, he can't make unsubstantiated comments like that," he whined. 

You can watch the entire exchange here. (Make sure you pop some popcorn first! It's better than anything I've seen on Netflix lately.)