Florida Senator and former 2016 Republican Presidential candidate Marco Rubio recently made stops in Iowa this week – at the Mason City airport and in Ames for a Story County GOP breakfast fundraiser.
Listen to my Press gaggle interview with @marcorubio
“Senator Rubio, at this point who poses more of a national security threat, China, Russia, or Afghanistan? ”-Caleb Lillquist @IAFieldReport #IaPolitics
Rubio:”Well they’re different threats-“ pic.twitter.com/vu9SR2DU4Q
— Caleb Lillquist (@CLillquist) August 31, 2021
The Iowa Field Report interviewed Marco Rubio on topics ranging from the Middle East, the economy, and Iowa.
As the country continues to be outraged in the handling of Biden’s Afghanistan exit, Rubio pulled no punches. “It’s in my view, the biggest foreign policy catastrophe in a quarter-century, maybe longer,” he said.
Rubio called the pull-out ‘poorly planned’ and called the execution even worse in comparison.
“We have left them behind at the hands of The Taliban,” @SenJoniErnst says, attacking @POTUS pullout in Afghanistan. Additionally she noted ,”-there’s no excuse to leave any man or woman behind.” @IAFieldReport #IaPolitics pic.twitter.com/C2BafFcfjy
— Caleb Lillquist (@CLillquist) August 31, 2021
“The way it should’ve been done, we should have had a detailed understanding of who needed to leave and what needed to come with us,” he said, “while additionally, making it absolutely clear to the Taliban what the United States is taking with them.”
Rubio commented on how he has “a lot of questions and doubts,” regarding his confidence in Secretary of State Blinken’s handling of the foreign policy crisis.
“I don’t believe their [the Biden Administration’s] foreign policy right now is built on realism,” he said.
Holding the Biden administration accountable though is something Rubio is looking forward to.
“Look, I think Congress is going to play a very important role and having oversight hearings,” he said while praising his Democrat colleagues, along with Senator Joni Ernst, who has actively called for Pentagon and military officials to speak on the mission’s execution.
On the topic of the vetting of Afghan refugees, the first priority of the United States should be to get out individuals who helped U.S. armed forces and those whose lives are in ‘imminent danger’ asserted Rubio.
“The sheer volume of people who want to leave that country is in the hundreds of thousands. People don’t want to live under the Taliban anymore.”
However, the potential for a dangerous individual to take advantage of the situation has been a fear of Rubio’s throughout this entire process.
“The biggest concern is individuals who sneak out under false identities who in fact potentially are not Afghans seeking refuge but rather terrorist elements who have taken advantage of this to assume a false identity. When you do things in a chaotic manner things will slip through the cracks,” he said.
Throughout the pandemic, Rubio dived into his legislation to save American jobs.
“We wrote and passed the Paycheck Protection Program which literally saved millions of small businesses and tens of millions of small business jobs in this country,” he said.
According to the legislation’s website, “The Paycheck Protection Program injected over $525 billion into the U.S economy in less than four months, making it the largest and most rapidly implemented fiscal policy support enacted by the CARES ACT.”
Link to the Program: Rubio Details Historic Success of the Paycheck Protection Program – Press Releases – U.S. Senator for Florida, Marco Rubio (senate.gov)
Rubio, a Cuban American, has long been an outspoken critic of communism. On his trip to Iowa, he continued to dismantle the fundamental aspects of the Marxist foundation.
“I think history is instructive, I mean communism is one of the worst evils man ever perpetrated on other people and we’ve seen that, we’ve seen the disaster it has led to,” he argued.
“It’s just Marxism wrapped around identity politics and it’s destructive, corrosive, not only makes you poorer as a country it divides the country, makes people angry, and eventually takes away your freedoms,” Rubio said.
Regarding Iowa, Rubio talked about the welcoming atmosphere the state provided.
“It’s been great being back in Iowa, we made a lot of friends and made a lot of memories,” he said.
“I’m always going to look for opportunities to be helpful to the friends we made here in Iowa that we got to know and truly love.”
So, can Iowans expect to see more of Sen. Rubio? Sounds like he’s focused on getting re-elected to the Senate in Florida. After that, “ I don’t know what the future holds,” he said.
