# Marco Rubio

Marco Antonio Rubio (born 28 May 1971) is an American politician, diplomat, and attorney serving as the 72nd United States Secretary of State in the second administration of president Donald Trump. Previously Rubio served as the senior United States senator from Florida, a seat he held from 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives from 2006 to 2008. Rubio unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 2016, winning presidential primaries in Minnesota, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

## Quotes
### 2010s
#### 2010

* These terrorists aren't trying to kill us because we offended them. They attack us because they want to impose their view of the world on as many people as they can, and America is standing in their way. We need to make it unmistakably clear that we will do whatever it takes, for however long it takes, to defeat radical Islamic terrorism. We will punish — we will punish their allies, like Iran — and we will stand with our allies, like Israel.
** Conservative Political Action Committee speech, (19 February 2010)

#### 2012

* And the last point I would make about it is, the billionaires and millionaires that are going to be impacted by higher rates, they can afford to hire the best lawyers, lobbyists and accountants in America to figure out how not to pay those higher rates.
** The Atlantic Washington Ideas Forum, 2012-11-15, quoted in Foley, Elise (15 November 2012), "Marco Rubio On Tax Hikes For The Rich: Why Bother?", The Huffington Post, retrieved on 2013-02-16
* I'm not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that's a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I'm not a scientist. I don't think I'm qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I'm not sure we'll ever be able to answer that. It's one of the great mysteries.
** Hainey, Michael (December 2012), "All Eyez on Him", GQ
** Posed question: How old do you think the Earth is?

#### 2013

* More government isn't going to help you get ahead. It's going to hold you back. More government isn't going to create more opportunities. It's going to limit them. And more government isn't going to inspire new ideas, new businesses and new private sector jobs. It's going to create uncertainty.
** Response to State of the Union speech, 2013-02-12
* The government can't change the weather. I said that in the speech. We can pass a bunch of laws that will destroy our economy, but it isn't going to change the weather. Because, for example, there are other countries that are polluting in the atmosphere much greater than we are at this point, China, India, all these countries that are still growing. They're not going to stop doing what they're doing. America is a country, it's not a planet. So we can pass a bunch of laws or executive orders that will do nothing to change the climate or the weather but will devastate our economy. Devastate it!
** Fox & Friends, Fox News, 2013-02-13, quoted in Peck, Adam (13 February 2013), "GOP ‘Savior’ Marco Rubio Mocks Climate Change", Think Progress
** Referring to a statement in his 2013-02-12 State of the Union response, "When we point out that no matter how many job-killing laws we pass, our government can't control the weather — he accuses us of wanting dirty water and dirty air."

#### 2014

* A few moments ago, the body was treated to a report from the senator from Iowa about his recent trip to Cuba. Sounded like he had a wonderful trip visiting, what he described as, a real paradise. He bragged about a number of things that he learned on his trip to Cuba that I'd like to address briefly. He bragged about their health care system, medical school is free, doctors are free, clinics are free, their infant mortality rate may be even lower than ours. I wonder if the senator, however, was informed, number one, that the infant mortality rate of Cuba is completely calculated on figures provided by the Cuban government. And, by the way, totalitarian communist regimes don't have the best history of accurately reporting things. I wonder if he was informed that before Castro, Cuba, by the way, was 13th in the whole world in infant mortality. I wonder if the government officials who hosted him informed him that in Cuba there are instances reported, including by defectors, that if a child only lives a few hours after birth, they're not counted as a person who ever lived and therefore don't count against the mortality rate.
** Speech to the United States Senate (24 February 2014).
* I don't agree with the notion that some are putting out there — including scientists — that somehow, there are actions we can take today that would actually have an impact on what's happening in our climate. Our climate is always changing. And what they have chosen to do is take a handful of decades of research, and say that this is now evidence of a longer-term trend that's directly and almost solely attributable to manmade activity.
** This Week, ABC News, 2014-05-11, quoted in David (11 May 2014), "Marco Rubio Says Scientists Are Wrong: 'Human Activity' Does Not Cause Climate Change", Crooks and Liars, retrieved on 2014-05-17
* The most important job we have is not congressman or senator or governor. It's family and mother and husband and wife.
** 'Faith and Freedom' fundraiser event in Anderson, South Carolina 2014-8-25, quoted in Hamby, Peter (25 August 2014), "In South Carolina, Rubio heals wounds on the right", CNN, retrieved on 2014-08-29

#### 2015

* Nothing matters if we aren't safe... The world has never been more dangerous than it is today.
** As quoted in "America's Next Top Fearmonger: The presidential candidates compete to scare the daylights out of the U.S. public." (22 May 2015), by Robert Golan-Vilella, National Interest.
* I believe that the world is a safer and a better place when the United States is the strongest military power in the world.
** As quoted in Marco Rubio and Rand Paul Clash (10 November 2015), by FoxNews Insider. Said during 2016 Republican Debate, Milwaukee.

#### 2016

* A con artist is about to take over the Republican party and the conservative movement and we have to put a stop to it.
* Donald Trump has portrayed himself now consistently as fighting for the working people and he has a record of sticking it to working people for 35 years.
* He refuses to answer questions in any specific public policy [...] He has no plans for health care, for example. They asked him about the debt, he claimed that he's gonna cut the debt by cutting fraud and abuse. He didn't get any follow-up or any press on that...We're about to turn over the conservative movement to a person that has no ideas of any substance on the important issues.
* The media is pumping him up as some sort of unstoppable force [...] He's being pumped up because many in the media with a bias know that he'll be easy to beat in a general election.
** From an interview on CBS This Morning (February 26, 2016), as cited in "Marco Rubio hits 'con artist' Donald Trump", CBS News (February 26, 2016)
* We cannot be a party that nominates someone who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan.
** Twitter (28 February 2016)
* There is no such thing as a Republican position on Zika or Democrat position on Zika because these mosquitoes bite everyone, and they're not going to ask you what your party registration is or who you plan to vote for in November.
** Marco Rubio Press Release: VIDEO: Rubio Urges Congress To Put Politics Aside On Zika (28 April 2016)
* Let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing; he's undergoing a systematic effort to change this country and make America more like the rest of the world. If I'm elected we'll embrace what makes America the greatest country in the world.
** At the Republican presidential debate (2016).

#### 2019

* A bipartisan supermajority in the Senate is poised to pass the Combating BDS. Act today. Yet a few of my colleagues — some on the Senate floor and one in an Iowa airport — recently echoed false claims made by anti-Israel activists and others that the bill violates Americans’ First Amendment rights
** 5 February 2019
* If House Democrats are serious about reaffirming their support for Israel, they should pass the bipartisan Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act
** 7 March 2019
* I don’t know if that’s a real request or him just needling the press, knowing that you guys were gonna get outraged by it. [Trump’s] pretty good at getting everybody fired up, and he’s been doing it for a while now, and the media responded right on task
** Marco Rubio says Trump just kidding about China. It’s no laughing matter October8, 2019

### 2020s
#### 2020

* You go to the Midwest, to Ohio, to places where we once had these communities that were sustained by certain work, and you realize that these industries didn’t just collapse because of the way the market works. They collapsed because of a concerted effort by a nation-state
** Marco Rubio Wants the U.S. to Take a Harder Line on China March 27, 2020

#### 2021

* Ivanka offered her support for Marco’s reelection and they had a great talk
** A sposperson for Marco Rubio according to "Ivanka Trump passes up Senate bid against Rubio" (February 18, 2021)

#### 2022

* This is not an easy issue. I never said this is an easy issue. It puts two fundamental rights in conflict — the right to choose of a woman and the right to live of an unborn human being
** Rubio spells out his position on abortion (08/26/2022)

#### 2025

* Should this conflict come to an acceptable end, the incredible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians geopolitically on issues of common interest and frankly, economically, on issues that hopefully will be good for the world and also improve our relations in the long term.
** From an interview with the Associated Press, as cited in "Russia and US agree to work toward ending Ukraine war in a remarkable diplomatic shift", AP News (February 18, 2025)
** Rubio's comments followed the meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, between delegations led by Rubio and the Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to end the Russo-Ukrainian War in the phase since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
* [The Russo-Ukrainian war] It's a proxy war between nuclear powers – the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia – and it needs to come to an end.
** Quoted in Kremlin says Rubio's view of Ukraine conflict as a US-Russia proxy war matches that of Putin, Reuters (March 6, 2025)

## Quotes about Rubio

* I stood on the stage and watched Marco in rather indignantly, look at Governor Bush and say, someone told you that because we’re running for the same office, that criticizing me will get you to that office. It appears that the same someone who has been whispering in old Marco’s ear too. So the indignation that you carry on, some of the stuff, you have to also own then. So let’s set the facts straight. First of all, I didn’t support Sonia Sotomayor. Secondly, I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. Third, if you look at my record as governor of New Jersey, I have vetoed a 50-caliber rifle ban. I have vetoed a reduction this clip size. I vetoed a statewide I.D. system for gun owners and I pardoned, six out-of-state folks who came through our state and were arrested for owning a gun legally in another state so they never have to face charges. And on Common Core, Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey. So listen, this is the difference between being a governor and a senator. See when you’re a senator, what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk. And you talk so much that nobody can ever keep up with what you’re saying is accurate or not. When you’re a governor, you’re held accountable for everything you do. And the people of New Jersey, I’ve seen it. And the last piece is this. I like Marco too, and two years ago, he called me a conservative reformer that New Jersey needed. That was before he was running against me. Now that he is, he’s changed his tune. I’m never going to change my tune. I like Marco Rubio. He’s a good guy, a smart guy, and he would be a heck of a lot better president than Hillary Rodham Clinton would ever be.
** Chris Christie, Full Transcript of the Sixth Republican Debate in Charleston, Time (14 January 2016)
* We have to remember Venezuela has the largest oil reserves on the planet.... I think the person who's most got Trump's ear on Latin America is Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio who has a widespread constituency of expat Venezuelans who are very wealthy. And on top of that he's a first generation Cuban American who is fervently opposed to the Cuban regime or Cuban government of the Castros, now in the hands of a successor, but still I mean they see them closely aligned. So, they've been wanting to do whatever's possible to provoke regime change in both Venezuela and Cuba and, I think, Rubio probably made a deal with Trump saying essentially he would back Trump's policies and agenda if Trump lets him lead on Latin America which means first and foremost regime change in Venezuela.
** Eva Golinger in Former Hugo Chavez adviser says Venezuela needs change, but not like this, CBC Radio (25 January 2019)
* Maybe Sen. @marcorubio should stop sabotaging Cuba’s international health brigades fighting Covid around the world, and instead invite them to help stop the spread in his own state of Florida!
** Medea Benjamin, Twitter (5 Jul 2020)