Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) sat down with Fox and Friends to discuss a number of issues in the political arena, and one topic he deemed important to discuss is the financial strain that recent riots have had on small businesses. In fact, the Florida lawmaker pointed out that, so far, it has been a $1 billion cost in riot damages.
In the interview, Senator Rubio explained that “a disproportionate number of those businesses that were impacted that way were owned by minorities,” adding that. “a lot of these small businesses that were looted or had to close because the streets were unsafe, a lot of them were owned by the very minorities that these rioters allegedly were out there in favor for.”
Moreover, Rubio made the distinction that “if somebody wants to go out and hold up a sign and scream and be loud because they are against something that’s happening in our country, whether you agree with them or not, that’s their constitutional right.” However, he did stress that “what you don’t have a right to do is set fires, and attack police stations, and kill people in the streets, and burn down buildings, and loot businesses.”
As well, the Florida Senator argued that the mainstream media has not been accurately covering what has been happening, expressing that “some of the people out there that cover this stuff are afraid to call it out because they think they’re going to be accused of condemning the broader movement to racial equality.” What to conversation comes down to “is about looters… about violence and anarchy in the streets” that “cannot continue.”
