INSKEEP: Does the president strike you, in your interactions with him or the staff around him, as responsible, focused, on target, fit?
RUBIO: Well, he strikes me as Donald Trump, which is - he's not a political figure. He understands and describes issues differently from someone who served 20 years in the Senate would describe them. But he has a pretty clear understanding of what's at stake with China. He has a pretty clear understanding, in the conversations I've had with him, about what's at stake in Venezuela. He has a pretty clear understanding of the risks involved in this engagement with South Korea - North Korea.
INSKEEP: The understanding about North Korea, he proclaimed that the nuclear threat has been taken care of with North Korea, which is, obviously, not true.
RUBIO: Well, but again, that goes back to the nonpolitical guy. And that is someone...
INSKEEP: That's not nonpolitical. It's not true.
RUBIO: No, but let me tell you why - because in his view, he's a negotiator. He's applying his business acumen. And that's why I tell you he wouldn't express himself the way a 20-year senator or a member of the Council of Foreign Relations would. In his mind, I'm a negotiator. And the way to get the other guy to give me more of what I want is to be nice to him. But he is fully aware that North Korea poses a threat. But he's trying to reach a deal. I, personally - in my view, Kim Jong Un doesn't want a deal. And I've said that to him, and I've said it his administration.
INSKEEP: One more thing. I asked, is he fit? You answered, well, he's Donald Trump. I understand that. But is he fit?
RUBIO: I have not personally seen or been told by anybody anything that causes me to believe that he's not fit to serve as president of the United States.
INSKEEP: Are you willing to say, in a positive sense, yes, he is fit?
RUBIO: Based on everything I've seen and known. That doesn't mean I agree with everything he's done or every conclusion he's reached. And that doesn't mean that I would express myself or that he always expresses himself in ways that I would hope a president would. But that doesn't make him unfit. That just makes him different from what I would prefer. And the one - best way I would describe it is I love a lot of the things that he's doing on a lot of public policy. Many of them are things that politicians have been promising to do for a long time and never did. I just wish we could have that without all the other stuff.
If you read the above, you learned that Rubio does not think Trump is unfit to be President, or irresponsible or unfocused, or off target; he is simply Donald trump, not a politician. And as far as saying things that are not true, well, that’s O.K., he isn’t lying because he is a negotiator using his business acumen.
And why does Rubio, and the rest of the GOP, accept Trump because he is Trump? Because Trump is doing a lot of things the GOP likes, things that politicians have been promising for a long time. And what are these things? Well, we all know what they are, they are things that benefit the wealthy donors to the GOP, people and corporations, and therefore keep these GOP politicians in office.
So in Rubio’s view, and the view of the rest of the complicit Congressional Republicans, Trump’s misogyny, bigotry, obstruction of justice, bizarre tweeting, claims that the media is the “enemy of the people,” kidnapping and abuse of immigrant children, elimination of environmental protections, insulting and alienation of our allies, butt-smooching of authoritarians, attacks on U.S. intelligence agencies, collusion with Russia, pulling out of international climate agreements and the nuclear weapon agreement with Iran, and etc. and etc. are simply “Trump being Trump,” a businessman being a businessman! Right, and Putin is just being Putin, and Kim Jung Un is just being Kim Jung Un, and Genghis Khan was just being Genghis Khan!
The GOP will pay a high price for their complicity with Trump and his advisors. Their chickens will come home to roost. Unfortunately, the entire world is paying the price now, and will continue to pay for a long time as a result of Trump and the GOP.
The Republicans in Congress have no shame, and history will not be kind to them. They have been accomplices to a bold attack on the U.S. Constitution and democracy.
Thank you, Marco Rubio, for so clearly showing the world the true colors of the Republican Party.
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