Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has been floated as former President Donald J. Trump's running mate, on Sunday pledged to accept repeated conspiracy theories about the 2024 presidential election results and the 2020 election. Rejected.
In an interview on NBC News' “Meet the Press,” Rubio was asked if he would accept this year's results “no matter what happens.” No, if it's an unfair election, I think it will be contested by each side. ”
He falsely claimed that Hillary Clinton had denied her 2016 loss while deflecting subsequent questions, including when interviewer Kristen Welker rephrased the question to “I don't care who wins.” and referred to a small group of Democrats in Congress. Although Mr. Clinton conceded, his 2004 opposition was not supported by Mr. Kerry or his campaign.
Welker noted that Rubio voted to certify the 2020 election results, saying, “Democracy is sustained by the people's faith in elections and their willingness to abide by those results.” He showed a video saying that. She also asked if these comments could be reconciled with Trump's recent refusal to acknowledge defeat, including his false claim that he won Minnesota.
Rubio responded by repeating Trump's false claims about “illegal mailbox locations” and ballot harvesting. At one point, he cited “places like Georgia where liberal groups are paying people $10 a vote,” a reference to the right-wing film “2000 Mules” in which an anonymous group paid for ballots. '' repeated the claim. The organization behind the claim admitted this year that there was no evidence to support it.
He said he voted to certify the 2020 results “because we don't have a choice at that stage of the process.”
The interview was one in a long line of videos showing Republicans, especially those vying for the vice president's seat, circling the wagons over Trump and his denial of the 2020 election results. Many lawmakers, including Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, have refused or avoided committing to accepting the 2024 results. Other lawmakers, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, declined to say whether they would have certified the 2020 results had they been vice president on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump has also refused to commit to accepting this year's election results, and in recent interviews did not rule out the possibility of political violence if he loses.
Rubio's interview on Sunday also highlighted his change on other issues. After working with Democrats on an immigration reform bill years ago and arguing that mass deportations were unrealistic, he now calls for rounding up millions of immigrants, putting them in concentration camps and then deporting them. He supported Trump's plan.
“The problem has completely changed,” he said, noting that the number of people crossing the border has increased after Welker released footage of himself rejecting mass deportations in the past. He added: “This is not immigration. You asked about immigration. This is mass migration, mass migration. This is an invasion of the nation and it needs to be addressed radically.”