The 2024 Legal Defense Fundraiser has ended early due to the Board's decision to settle the suit. Donations will go towards the creation of a legal defense fund. Discussion on the matter can be found at the RationalMedia Foundation noticeboard. Thank you for your generous support.
Marco Rubio
God, guns, and freedom U.S. Politics |
![]() |
Starting arguments over Thanksgiving dinner |
Persons of interest |
“”We should change the names of AR-15s to 'Marco Rubio' because they are so easy to buy.
|
—Sarah Chadwick, a Parkland shooting survivor, calling out Rubio for his initial defense of the NRA. |
Marco Antonio Rubio (28 May 1971–) is the current Republican senior senator from Florida, former lawyer, and failed 2016 presidential candidate.
Biography
The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio first became interested in politics when majored in political science in the University of Florida, graduating with his B.A. in 1993. He began studying law at the University of Miami School of Law, earning his J.D. and graduating cum laude in 1996. That same year, he was an intern for U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and also worked on Senator Bob Dole's 1996 Presidential campaign.
Starting in 1999, Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives, eventually becoming Speaker of the House.
He was elected to the United States Senate in 2010, and is currently one of six Latino Americans serving in the Senate, alongside fellow conservative Cuban-American Ted Cruz, as well as Bob Menendez, Catherine Cortez Masto, Ben Ray Luján, and Alex Padilla.
In April 2015, Rubio announced that he would be running for President of the United States, though would end up suspending his campaign after Donald Trump won Rubio's home state of Florida in the primaries. During the 2016 campaign, Trump had a particularly fun time bashing Rubio, calling him "little Marco" in reference to Rubio's relatively small stature (5'9") and "a little frightened puppy."[1][2] Perhaps Trump's "best" internet flame at Rubio was Trump's Tweet that "Lightweight choker Marco Rubio looks like a little boy on stage."[3]
After dropping out of the 2016 Presidential campaign, and initially stating that he would not seek reelection in the Senate, Rubio changed his mind and was reelected in the 2016 general election.
Rubio changes religions seemingly with the wind. He's transfered from Catholicism to Mormonism back to Catholicism, then to a Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated evangelical megachurch, before joining up with Catholicism again.[4] While it's unclear what type of confusion could cause a person to completely reject, then be completely convinced, then completely reject again the factual assertion that an Angel named Moroni led Joseph Smith to the Third Book of the Bible in upstate New York in the 1820s, it probably has nothing to do with pandering to the voters.
Fun fact...
Len Blavatnik, a Soviet Union-born dual national of the US and UK, is financially associated with Russian oligarchs, and he donated $1.5 million to political action committees associated with Rubio.[5]
Political views
Cannabis
Rubio is against the legalization of cannabis and supports criminal penalties for recreational cannabis use. However, he does support the legalization of medical marijuana.
Education
Rubio supports shutting down the Department of Education, expanding charter schools, and teaching creationism in classrooms. However, he also does support the teaching of evolution.
He is an outspoken opponent of Common Core.
Gun rights
Rubio currently has an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association. He is a prominent supporter of the Second Amendment.
Parkland shooting
In the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14, 2018, Rubio stated that he is against a ban on assault rifles, but is also against the idea of arming teachers, calling it a "bad idea", demonstrating that he is capable of stopped clock thinking. After pressure from the Never Again MSD activists, Rubio had another stopped clock moment when he announced his support for the ban of bump stocks as well as more stringent background checks.
Healthcare
Rubio supports a full repeal of Obamacare (because of course he does) and replacing it with tax credits and less regulation, saying that tax credits could be used for health insurance.
Abortion
Not surprisingly, Rubio is pro-life and opposes abortion in all cases, including rape and incest. He strongly opposes Roe v. Wade, calling it an "egregiously flawed decision."
LGBT issues
Rubio thinks that LGBT issues should be left up to the states to decide. Though he is not overtly homophobic, he thinks that marriage should remain traditional, between a man and a woman.
Foreign policy
Rubio does not like the current government of Venezuela, and has advocated regime change.[6] He also doxxed the man behind the 'Salt Bae" meme for cooking for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.[7]
Rubio supported the Iraq War, as well as the current Saudi intervention in Yemen.
Rubio is also vocal in his opposition to the Chinese government, including their camps in Xinjiang and crackdown of the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, enough to earn himself an individual sanction[8]. Given Rubio's own track record and defense of Trump's camps and crackdown of protesters, one has to question whether this is simply political opportunism.[note 1]
Notes
- ↑ It is.
References
- ↑ Trump to Rubio: 'Don't worry about it, Little Marco'
- ↑ Trump bashes Rubio: He's a 'little frightened puppy'
- ↑ https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/insults-donald-trump-hurled-convention-speakers-marco-rubio/story?id=40755266
- ↑ Marco Rubio’s Crisis of Faith: Why his complicated, unique religious journey is causing him trouble with voters.
- ↑ How Putin's proxies helped funnel millions into GOP campaigns by Ruth May (December 15, 2017) The Dallas Morning News.
- ↑ Marco Rubio: U.S. Military Intervention Could Solve Venezuelan Crisis Newsweek. September 1, 2018
- ↑ Why is Marco Rubio tweeting about Salt Bae? Vox. September 20, 2018
- ↑ China imposes sanctions on US officials in retaliation for Hong Kong measures Financial Times. August 11, 2020
You can help RationalWiki by expanding it.