Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) was a guest on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo over the weekend, and he discussed the storming of the Capitol along with the future of the conservative movement in light of what happened last week.
The Florida Senator condemned far-right groups who stormed the Capitol, expressing that they were ready to “apprehend the Vice President and Members of Congress, and have them ‘pay the ultimate price’ as they called it.” However, Rubio was critical of the future actions of both the Republican party and the conservative movement, assuring supporters to reflect on what occurred.
In the interview, Rubio called those who stormed the Capitol “disgusting” and “unpatriotic,” adding that “it runs counter to everything we stand for.” Although he couldn’t provide “an assessment of every single person that went in there,” the lawmaker did note that “QAnon people were involved… then you’ve got White supremacists in there, you’ve got members of the ‘Proud Boys.’” In short, “it’s a rogues gallery of groups who thought that they were going to storm the Capitol, apprehend the Vice President and Members of Congress, and have them ‘pay the ultimate price’ as they called it. ‘String ‘em up,’ they would say."
He likened the attack from far-right groups to protests he’s faced in Florida that have called for him to be “strung up,” and he expressed that “our country can’t keep doing these kinds of things and unify the country.”
Saying that “the President does bear some responsibility here,” Rubio lamented that “we have for too long indulged some of these groups as part of the conservative movement” when these groups “are not conservatives. These are wackos. These are nutjobs.”
He did make the distinction that “99 percent of the people that were at the protest did not storm the Capitol,” adding that “they have strong feelings about the election, they support the President, and they were not a part of it.” Noting that there is an “element” that is “very small, but enough people to create a tremendous amount of damage and put a lot of people in danger,” Rubio reflected that the conservative movement made a mistake in condemning them “after the fact” instead of “before.”
“This is why we have to watch what we say and who we allow into the movement because these are the people that can do terrible things.
