‘Violence, vandalism, anarchy’: Marco Rubio warns the Senate about ‘anti-American radicals’

Marco Rubio is urging the federal government to help Florida farmers

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio took to the Senate floor Tuesday to warn about radicals using the current protest moment to attempt to destabilize American society.

Rubio, the interim chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was equal parts poetic and specific, castigating a malcontented cohort that has caused problems for governments in the weeks since police killed George Floyd.

“Yes, we must address racial inequality. Yes, black lives must matter. But the vandalism, the arson, and the anarchy in our streets have nothing to do with this important cause,” Rubio said.

“These anti-American radicals don’t care about racial equality. And they will not stop as long as everyone is afraid to call them out for who and for what they are,” the Senator added, bemoaning a “dangerous radicalism.”

 “Because if it’s OK for a violent mob to tear down a statue, then what is to stop another violent mob from showing up to defend it? If it’s OK to set a police car on fire, what’s going to stop someone upset at activist judges from burning down a courtroom?”

“Where does it end? It won’t end, because there is no way to satisfy radicals who only seek destruction,” Rubio added.

The Senator has made the case before that many of the provocateurs are people who simply are outside not just the mainstream, but the political spectrum itself. Tuesday’s speech built on that.

“From the crazy professor no one took seriously to the nut-job running for office with no chance of winning, they have operated on the fringes of our politics for decades,” Rubio said.

“The difference is that in recent years, they have begun to move out from the fringes. And now these radicals are capitalizing on a legitimate movement to force their madness even further into the mainstream,” Rubio said.