Rick Wilson on Marco Rubio's great debasement
"He’s become an obscene parody of the guy Marco Rubio once claimed to be."
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In January, Marco Rubio was unanimously confirmed as secretary of state. He’s spent every day since then showing Senate Democrats the error of their ways.
It’s surreal to think about now, but at one point in his life Rubio was a truth-teller about Trump. Back when they were competing against each other in the 2016 primary, Rubio called his future Dear Leader a “con man” and said, "for years to come, there are many people on the right, in the media and voters at large, that are going to be having to explain and justify how they fell into this trap of supporting Donald Trump."
Nearly a decade later, Rubio has crashed into the trap he once warned Republicans about. As Trump’s secretary of state, he’s had to defend aggression toward Canada, doing Putin’s bidding in Ukraine, the free speech-chilling cancelation of student visas, the deportation of US citizen children, and due process-free renditions to a gulag in El Salvador.
And, as yesterday’s cabinet meeting demonstrated, Rubio is playing a leading role in ripping apart whatever is left of our democracy by attacking judges and justifying Trump’s efforts to defy court orders.
For perspective on Rubio’s great debasement, we checked in with Florida GOP expert Rick Wilson, who supported Rubio back in the pre-Trump days.
“No matter what Marco Rubio believed in the past, he’s willing to sell it out or ship it off or pretend it doesn’t exist,” Wilson told us. “He’ll do or say anything to retain power and stay in Trump’s good graces. It’s an astounding comedown for a guy who was once believed to be a person of principle.”
“That’s what makes it so tragic. Marco knows this is wrong,” he added. “He wants power. He wants a political future in the Trump universe. He believes Trump is the only way forward. He’s the only future. Whether he’s right or wrong doesn’t matter. He believes it. It’s grotesque, but he believes it.”
A full transcript of Wilson’s conversation with Public Notice contributor Thor Benson, lightly edited for length and clarity, follows.
Thor Benson
I want to talk to you about Marco Rubio.
Rick Wilson
Oh man. I have regrets in my career about helping people, but no one more than Marco.
Thor Benson
Haha. Well, how do you think he’s doing so far? Is he meeting your expectations?
Rick Wilson
He’s failing to meet even the lowest expectations of what an American secretary of state should do. I’ve followed a lot of American secretaries of state over the years, and I’ve known a few. He’s not only betrayed every value he ever claimed to have, but he’s profoundly — at a level I can barely articulate — harming this country.
Marco wants to run for president again. He still has this vision that he’s going to be president someday. He’s thinking, “I can do this for Trump, and I can win over these MAGA people, and I can snake through this thing.” It’s incredibly sad. There were a lot of people who believed in Marco. I was certainly one of them.
There were also a lot of people who believed he was going to be a moderating force in the administration. I was certainly not one of them. If Elián González was happening today, Marco would grab that kid screaming out of the closet and send him back to fucking Castro.
Thor Benson
Do you think Rubio has betrayed his Latino constituents?
Rick Wilson