Senator Marco Rubio shut down CNN host Dana Bash when she asked him if former President Donald Trump will be going after his political opponents.
As President Joe Biden’s frailty becomes uncomfortably obvious, the possibility of a second Trump term is coming ever closer to reality. There is a prevailing conspiracy theory on the left, debunked by the former president himself, that Trump will use his power to attack his political opponents should he win reelection in November.
Rubio was pressed about this during a segment on “State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash” where he promptly pushed back on the idea.
“I‘m uncomfortable with the fact now that we have a president who targets political opponents, that‘s what‘s happened under Joe Biden,” Rubio said. “When Donald Trump was president, I can‘t think of a single prominent Democrat who was chased around, persecuted, prosecuted. It‘s funny to me to read these people and hear these people out there warning about all the horrible things they ridiculously claim Donald Trump is going to do if he becomes president again, they‘re the ones that have been going after their political opponents. Donald Trump has been the one that’s been very clear that his vengeance is going to be by winning and making America great again, not going after his political opponents.”
“He said that in your debate, that you hosted,” he reminded Bash.
“There’s no evidence that Joe Biden has gone after political opponents,” Bash interjected.
After some more back and forth, the host pressed Rubio again.
“My question for you, as a Republican who could potentially be on the ticket, is whether you are comfortable with the way that the Supreme Court ruled, and frankly not just about January 6 and about the potential for what Donald Trump could do with that power, but any president in the future, Democrat or Republican,” she asked. “It’s a big precedent that the Supreme Court said.”
“I think what the Supreme Court did is it clarified what the law is, and that is you cannot go after presidents for official acts and there is a presumption of immunity for quasi-official acts or semi-official acts or exactly the terminology they used on it,” Rubio responded. “They were pretty clear about that and I think it’s unfortunate we have to have that conversation in America today, but understand why this has become topical, why we now have to discuss this issue: Because it is clear that we have reached an era where there are people in American politics who believe that our courts are now a weapon that can be used against their political opponents.”
“You look at their efforts and what they have done in the courts to persecute and prosecute Donald Trump, they’ve tried to bankrupt him, they’ve tried to silence him, they’ve tried to jail him, they’ve gone after his allies, every day,” Rubio continued. “And some of these are ridiculous charges.”
“Senator, Donald Trump has said that he would go after Joe Biden, that he would go after members of the Biden family,” Bash asserted. “That’s never something that we’ve heard Joe Biden say.”
“No he hasn’t, I watched the debate, you guys did a great job, I watched it, and he was asked and he said my vengeance would be winning and restoring America, making America great again,” the senator pointed out. “He did not say I’m going to go after them and so forth and I’m gonna put them in jail.”
“Not at the debate, but had said it elsewhere. Not at the debate, you’re right, but he’s said it elsewhere,” Bash conceded.
“He has repeatedly said that his revenge will be to make America great again, to undo all their bad public policies, and by the way he was president for four years and he didn’t go after Hillary Clinton, he didn’t go after Joe Biden, he didn’t go after Barack Obama, he didn’t go after any of their consultants, we didn’t see under him what we’re seeing now,” Rubio responded.
“You’re telling me right now that a second Trump administration wouldn’t go after any Democrats, any of his political opponents, full stop. You have confidence that that wouldn’t happen?” Bash pushed again.
“Yeah,” Rubio said. “He was president before and he didn’t do it then. He’s already said he wouldn’t do that. He’ll be too busy undoing all the damage of this disastrous presidency.”
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Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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