Marco Rubio

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Rubio's official portrait.

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“”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." Perhaps Trump's "best" internet flame at Rubio was Trump's Tweet that "Lightweight choker Marco Rubio looks like a little boy on stage."

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. 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.

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. He also doxxed the man behind the 'Salt Bae" meme for cooking for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

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. 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.

References

United States 2016 presidential election articles on RationalWiki

Topics: Affordable Care Act - Citizens United v. FEC - DAESH - Gun control - Illegal immigration - Koch Industries - United States Electoral College - Trump's Wall
Parties: Democratic Party (primaries) - Green Party of the United States - Libertarian Party - Republican Party (primaries • Convention • Tea Party)
Candidates: Bush (R) - Carson (R) - Christie (R) - Clinton (D) - Cruz (R) - Huckabee (R) - Jindal (R) - Johnson (Lib) - Kasich (R) - Paul (R) - Perry (R) - Rubio (R) - Sanders (D) - Stein (Green) - Trump (R) - Walker (R) - Webb (D) • Running mates: Kaine (D) - Pence (R)
Winner: Donald Trump

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