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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Jimmy Cefalo on 610 WIOD radio in Miami, Florida to discuss vaccination efforts, impeachment and the misplaced priorities of Senate Democrats, and more. See below for highlights.
On fixing vaccination issues:
“Distribution has been an issue, some states have done better than others. I think this notion of sending it to retail pharmacies is a good idea. I think Florida has done better than most places in terms of prioritizing where you want it to go… There is some significant resistance out there to getting the vaccine. I think that it’s been particularly problematic in different communities — minority communities, and others — people are afraid of it, a lot of disinformation out there as well… Some states have done better than others, I think Florida has done better than most states, but there is an availability issue here.
“The supply will keep increasing, we’ll get better at it. Every time people get vaccinated, even the first shot, it helps because it makes it less likely that they’re going to get it or get sick from it, and that they’re going to transmit it to somebody else.”
On impeachment and the misplaced priorities of Democrats in the Senate:
“The whole thing is stupid — I’ll tell you why. It’s not that what happened at the Capitol wasn’t an outrage — it was. And everybody that did that in there should get caught, they should get prosecuted, all of those things should happen. …
“You can’t impeach a private citizen… it’s a terrible precedent to set. The automatic penalty of impeachment is removal. You can’t remove someone that’s not in office. If we get into the habit around here of claiming that impeachment applies to former presidents… in the years to come we’re going to start impeaching everybody after they leave office. That’s what they do in the third world, they put former presidents in jail.
“We are in a race against time against this new, more infectious variant that’s up to 5 or 6 percent of the cases in Florida. So, we’ve got to get shots into people as quickly as possible — at least that first one, so that if people do get this they’re not going to get as sick, or maybe they don’t get it at all.
“We’ve got to get COVID relief done, hopefully in a bipartisan way, we’ve got to get jobs created in America again, we’ve got the ongoing threat of China’s efforts to dominate the world. These are really important priorities, that’s what we should be spending our time on. So a Senate trial means from 1 o’ clock until 7 or 8 PM we are sitting in a Senate chamber, doing impeachment and not doing any of these other things. I don’t think we can afford a week of that given all these other issues we are facing.”
On conspiracy theories and the Republican Party:
“Number one, if some member of Congress has flirted with or supported conspiracy theories or said things before they took office or while in office or whatever, that’s a relevant news story. I do think the amount of coverage they get should somehow be proportionate to their power to influence public policy.
“And in this particular case we’re talking about a freshman member of the minority party that frankly has very little influence over any public policy that’s going to pass over the next couple years… My concern is we are now elevating that conspiracy theory, we’re making people famous, we’re helping them raise money, because it’s great for ratings and great for clicks. But I think there’s got to be some proportion to it.
…
“I don’t want to turn these people into household names and their ideas and the things they think… It’s repugnant. You know, Parkland was real. I know these families. These were real families impacted by real tragedy that happened to real children. Anyone who says different is either insane or a sadist that likes to see people suffer.”
On the media:
“The media has always been center left. What’s changed is the economy of the media, it’s all driven by clicks and ratings. And what gets clicks and ratings? You’ve got to pick a side in this divide, and then you’ve got to pick the most outrageous stories, because that’s what people watch. No one wants to hear a story about a debate over a bipartisan bill. They want to hear a story about outrage and scandal. You look at the ratings drop last week since Trump’s been out of office, so they’re searching for ‘what else can we jump on that’s ratings gold.’… You’ve got to make money on news. And to make money, you’ve got to bleed to lead.”
On Tua Tagovailoa’s first season with the Miami Dolphins:
“Given everything he went through this offseason — not having an offseason, not having a minicamp — I liked a lot of the things I saw from him. I’d like to see him with another year under the belt.
“What I think makes Tua unique…is his accuracy, his ability to deliver the ball in a place where a guy can take it up the field. I think it’s one of the things that makes Brady unique, especially later in his career. So you’ve got to surround him with guys that can do that.”