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Miami, FL — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio joined the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the presidential debate and more. See below for highlights and listen to the full interview here. 

On Tuesday’s presidential debate: 
 
“A lot of people watched the debate the other night and said oh, it was, you know, I really didn’t like it. I think politics follows culture, not culture following politics. And that debate as much, no matter how you felt about it, I think it was a mirror that sort of showed us what we look like as a nation and as a people in which we’re all talking at each other and over each other, but not to each other. I very much think that that debate perfectly captured the state of American politics in society today, and that doesn’t mean you can’t have passionate differences of opinion. 
 
“And it doesn’t mean there aren’t people in American politics that need to be condemned for their views. But by and large, the vast majority of Americans just have different ideas about how to make our country better. And at the core of it is this, there is no such thing as a successful America that leaves 35 or 40 percent of the country not just unhappy, but angry… Total victory in politics in a republic ultimately leaves you with a fundamental question – what’s the point of winning the right to govern if there’s no country to govern after you win?
 
“I think the bigger challenge, of course, is the issues and the problem sets that we have, and whether we can solve them. And when the debates or when the arguments over these things become an impediment to action… or when we spend a lot of time talking about the process and not the actual results is where it really becomes detrimental. And I’m really, obviously concerned about that in a time of great crisis. The pandemic has been a great crisis, but there are greater crises that potentially loom where you’ve got to bring the nation together. And if people don’t view themselves as fellow countrymen, you won’t be able to do that no matter who the adversary is or what the crisis is.”
 
On how packing the Supreme Court would destabilize our country: 
 
“The reason why [Biden] won’t answer it is because there are elements of his base that demand it. And you’re absolutely right about destabilizing. Where does it end? So four years later, a Republican wins, and adds another five seats, or three seats, or whatever the right number is in order to tip the Court back the other way, I mean, we could eventually wind up with a ridiculous number – 25, 30, there’s not enough room in that building for them. So just to start with that, it would be absurd. It’s the kind of thing you see in the third world, really. I think the reason why [Biden] won’t answer the question is because if he says he won’t, he’s got a substantial portion of his base, both donor base and activist base, that will revolt. And if he says he would, you’ve got a substantial amount of the country that would revolt. So I’m not sure if he can pull off another 35 days of refusing to answer that question.”
 
On suspicions that Hunter Biden acquired money illegitimately from China: 
 
“I think what is valid is if someone in public office has a relative, whether it’s a child, a spouse, a cousin, who was making a bunch of money as a result of the political process. That’s a legitimate question to ask. Is there something improper happening here? Are you helping this person make money? And so forth. And I don’t think there’s anything illegitimate about it. Unfortunately, when you raise those sorts of issues in the middle of such a heated contest, it kind of gets lost in the back and forth. You’ll see the allegations that it’s being heavily politicized. It doesn’t make it an illegitimate issue. 
 
“I will say, and this is true, I’m convinced 100 percent that if the roles were reversed and it was a Republican nominee who had someone in their family that made this much money while they were in office without sort of credentials, you know, there’d be all kinds of stories. They’d be all over this stuff. There is a double standard. There’s no reason to ignore it. We’ve seen it repeatedly, and this is yet another example of that.”
 
On race and American identity:
 
“Joe Biden wouldn’t criticize Antifa or the Marxist elements that are in the street. He called them a thought. It may be a thought. I don’t know what they are. I’ll tell you, they burn things down. They don’t simply want to reform the country. They want to overthrow our system of government, and I think they’re pretty transparent about that. And look, it’s a mishmash of groups that are out there. But in essence, they are organized around this catch phrase that we call Antifa, because it’s sort of what seems to unite them over and over again. Let me add one more point about all this. It’s not racism and bigotry. It’s not just immoral. It’s un-American, literally un-American.
 
“The core and the essence of the American identity is that we are not one people united by a common race, a common ethnicity, a common background, a common religion. What unites us as one people is, and it’s amazing, is an idea, the idea, the belief that all men are created equal because our rights come from our Creator. And we are, that is what Americanism is. And anything that excludes people from that simply because of fill in the blank – their ethnicity, the color of their skin, etc. – it’s un-American, and that’s why it should be condemned.”