Marco Rubio Says Republicans Must Stop Indulging ‘Wackos’
In an interview with Fox News broadcast on Sunday, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida discussed Wednesday’s riots at the U.S. Capitol.
Per Newsmax, Rubio said that President Donald Trump bears “some responsibility” for the violence that broke out after his rally in Washington, D.C.
He added that both the commander-in-chief and the GOP have indulged fringe groups, including white supremacists like Proud Boys and followers of the absurd QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims that Trump is secretly fighting against a cabal of Satan-worshiping child traffickers.
“We have for too long indulged some of the groups. These are not conservatives. These are wackos,” Rubio told Sunday Morning Features.
Members of white supremacist organizations and QAnon followers were reportedly in the group of pro-Trump rioters that violently broke into the Capitol building, clashed with security forces and destroyed property.
Rubio denounced QAnon as “this ridiculous conspiracy theory,” arguing that Republicans need to distance themselves from fringe groups because individuals who participate in their activities are unstable and could misinterpret signals from GOP leadership.
“It’s important to point out, this is why we have to watch what we say and allow into the movement. They may be incited to do things by words that maybe you didn’t intend to be read that way, but they did.”
Rubio said that embracing these individuals could be “dangerous” and argued that the United States has “hit rock bottom” as a country following the riots.
Polling suggests that it is not only fringe elements of the GOP that supported the storming of the Capitol building. In a recent YouGov poll, for instance, 45 percent of Republicans said that they approve of the rioters’ actions.
Rubio also told Fox News that tensions are still high and that it would not be a good idea to impeach and remove Trump, who is leaving the White House in 10 days.
“Instead of saying that to everybody, what’s going to be the notion [is] ‘let’s keep fighting this Trump stuff, let’s have an impeachment for someone who is not in office anymore,'” he stated.
Both Republicans and Democrats have pressured Trump to resign, accusing him of inciting the riots. As The Inquisitr reported, a majority of House Democrats has signed on to an impeachment resolution drafted by Representatives Ted Lieu of California, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and David Cicilline of Rhode Island.
Earlier this week, outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent out a memo to his collogues in the upper chamber, detailing the procedure for an impeachment trial.
