Marco Rubio's Hilarious New Economic Philosophy
"Working Class Marco" wants to rebrand Trumpism so he can become relevant again. The problem is, it makes no sense whatsoever.
by Ben Cohen
Marco Rubio gave a speech at the National Conservatism Conference on Monday where he sought to rebrand himself and the GOP by taking on corporate America.
Rubio, who spends much of the day calling Democrats “socialists” and “Marxists” on Twitter, apparently now wants in on working class/anti-corporate cred, and outlined his approach in a speech confusingly titled “We Need Corporate Patriotism to Defeat American Marxism”.
Rubio’s speech wasn’t just confusing though, it was embarrassing. There was no new Reaganesque vision for modern conservatism, no bold new ideas, and certainly no rigorous thought behind his new economic philosophy.
Instead, he delivered a hodgepodge of xenophobia, red baiting and woke bashing that he hoped would appeal the the MAGA crowd, then splattered on a nonsensical populist economic philosophy that tried to be pro-capitalist and anti-capitalist at the same time.
The Commies are coming!
From the beginning of the speech, Rubio declared his staunch opposition to the so-called ‘Marxism’ taking over American corporations:
There are two lessons we should remember about Marxism.
The first is that any time it appears there are always some who think they can protect themselves from its wrath by cooperating with Marxism. That is why right now big business is all in. With major American corporations boycotting states that pass laws which are not “woke” while sending our jobs to a China ruled by a genocidal government. It’s why tech companies who have become enforcers, censoring views they don’t like and silencing those who dare to speak out.
But eventually, they all learn that for the Marxist there can be no organization or institution independent of the movement. Everyone, all must serve “the revolution.”
And the second lesson of Marxism is that the promise of “equity” and “justice,” or whatever catch phrases they come up with, they are all very popular, until people figure out what it really means.
Until you see it means giving up the right to decide what is best for your children.
Rubio then turned his attention to the evil globalists (who are also Marxists, Wokists, and capitalists at the same time):
Today many of our most important corporations are run by people who consider themselves not citizens of America, but citizens of the world. They are the product of decades of anti-American indoctrination at our elite universities and they feel no obligation to America or its national interest. I’m not here to tell you big business is the enemy. But I’m here to tell you big business is not our ally in the fight against socialism. They come running for help to conservatives when the left threatens to raise their taxes. They come running for help when some workers try to unionize.
But on most days they are eager culture warriors who have mastered the art of wrapping “wokeness” in the language of free market capitalism. They try to pay their workers as little as possible and charge consumers as much as they can get away with. But when they invest in the latest gender fad or climate initiative they say it’s because that is what their workers and customers demand.
Allowing this new version of shareholder primacy to define capitalism would be to accept an elaborate justification for letting Wall Street and woke corporations run our economy and control our lives.
If you are having a hard time making sense of this, don’t worry, because it makes no sense at all. Leaving aside the complete distortion of Marxism, Rubio is describing a world that exists only in the minds of rabid Fox News viewers. It is a world where liberals want to ban Christmas, kill babies, and teach children to be transgender. Only brave politicians like Marco Rubio can save America from this dystopian nightmare, and he will do it by enforcing “Corporate Patriotism”.
Fascism-lite
When you look at “Corporate Patriotism”, it is even more ridiculous than it sounds. In his speech, Rubio called for a “Common Good Capitalism” in which “the market is here to serve us, to serve our country, our national interests, and our people.” Rubio would do this by passing laws “that incentivize corporate actions that are good for America and are good for Americans.” These “incentives” include “getting wokeness out of the boardroom” by subjecting companies to “strict scrutiny and to legal liability when they abuse their corporate privilege by pushing wasteful, anti-American nonsense.” In Rubio’s bold new vision, private companies making moral decisions to not invest in states ripping away women’s rights would be declared ‘Marxists’. There would also be new legal mechanisms available to hold financially ruin individual executives.
If this all sounds a bit fascistic and decidedly anti-free enterprise, don’t worry, Rubio made pains to explain that he wasn’t against billionaires or lowering corporate tax rates:
The real fight isn’t about the tax rate on billionaires, because you can always come back and lower tax rates if they’re too high.
The real fight isn’t even about the plan to spend $3.5 trillion or $1.75 trillion. Because two year of socialist policies may cost less upfront, but it’s still socialism.
Here’s the real fight.
The real fight is about a small, radical, but incredibly powerful minority that wants to force everyone else to abandon a common sense that was built on 5,000 years of human history, to erase our culture and traditions, throw away our values, and walk away from a free enterprise economy that is still the envy of the world.
That’s the real fight. And the stakes couldn’t be higher.
In other words, don’t worry about the billionaires paying no taxes, the corporations wrecking the environment, or the fascism taking over the Republican Party. Instead take on an imaginary enemy with meaningless legislation that has absolutely no chance of passing.
Big money, little Marco
Rubio, it must be remembered, has a long track record of taking money from powerful hedge funds, private prison operators, private equity firms, and giant food corporations. He knows full well he can’t bite the hand that feeds him, so he is pretending to take on corporations without actually taking them on while hoping his audience is too stupid to notice. Thankfully the MAGA supporters he is trying to appeal to are not interested in meaningful policies that would improve their lives — they want to “own the libs” as hard as they can. Rubio’s potent blend of hysterical red baiting and fake populist rhetoric just does that, so it is likely to be reasonably well received.
In Rubio’s defense, he does have an immensely hard job carving out a viable political future for himself. He no doubt has his eyes on the presidency at some point, but is clearly still shaken from his brutal humiliation at the hands of Donald Trump in 2016. He knows he cannot run as a traditional Republican going forward and understands that his future is deeply entwined with the MAGA mob.
When Trump came on the scene in 2015, Rubio and the rest of the Republican Party denounced him as a “conman” who was “dangerous”. Rubio even told the Guardian that: “If we’re going to be the party of fear, we’re going to spend some time in the wilderness. If we’re the party of fear, with a candidate who basically is trying to prey upon people’s fears to get them to vote for them, I think we’re going to pay a big price in November and beyond.”
Rubio of course went on to support Trump in both elections, then refused to impeach him after he tried to steal the presidency and incited a mob to storm the Capitol. Why? Because without the MAGA mob, Marco Rubio has no political future. So rather than confront the rot within his own party, he is inventing an enemy he can fight in the other party.
In reality, Rubio is just offering a bastardized version of Trumpism — a childish, meaningless, pot-pourri of “ideas” that will disappear alongside his feeble political career.
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MAGAs Turned Montana Ugly So Let's Blame "Both Sides"
Every bit of ugliness can be laid at the feet of Republicans.
by Justin Rosario
One of the most amazing phenomena of the political time and place we find ourselves in is the ability for the press to erase the violence, cruelty, and deliberate hate stoked by the right. There has been such a concerted effort to “not take sides” that it has become all but impossible to hold Republicans and their cult of terrorists accountable for tearing the country apart.
For a prime example of this, look no further than the Washington Post’s article lamenting the loss of civility and community in Montana. Every bit of ugliness can be laid at the feet of Republicans but doing that would be construed as taking a side. Instead, everyone is to blame.
The former great state of Montana
With a population of just over one million spread out over the fourth largest state in the country, Big Sky Country is not a crowded place and once enjoyed a reputation for civility. But that’s all over now reports the Washington Post while taking great pains to avoid saying who is responsible:
The coronavirus pandemic had cleaved neighbors into camps for and against masks. A popular Facebook group featuring wildlife photos and local events had degenerated into a forum for politics, bullying and suspicion of the new people moving here.
The October death by suicide of the ninth local teenager in 16 months prompted offers of counseling, training for teachers and visits from national suicide prevention experts. But it also whiplashed into partisan recriminations, as residents lashed out in public forums against the superintendent of schools for failing to impose dress codes and discipline, against parents for not securing their plentiful firearms — used in several suicides — and against the supporters of masks and other pandemic restrictions for stifling teenagers. An issue the valley might have rallied around, in another time, risked dividing it yet again.
If you missed it, there is a sleight-of-hand regularly used by the press here. Three distinct arguments are being made by parents as the cause of increased teen suicide:
1. A lack of dress codes and discipline - a right wing bugaboo.
2. Masks and pandemic restrictions - another right wing bugaboo.
3. Easy access to firearms - a well-documented problem contributing to suicide.
The first two have no basis in reality. Not being forced to wear a school uniform does not contribute to teens killing themselves and I dare anyone to find a reputable study that says otherwise. Wearing a mask also does not lead to increased deaths. In fact, it was assumed that pandemic restrictions would lead to a nationwide increase in people committing…
"The real fight is about a small, radical, but incredibly powerful minority that wants to force everyone else to abandon a common sense that was built on 5,000 years of human history, to erase our culture and traditions, throw away our values, and walk away from a free enterprise economy that is still the envy of the world"
How dare Rubio describe the Republicans in Congress so well that it makes McConnell un-turtle, if ya know what I mean...
Marco Rubio's recent statement is just knee slapping hilarious without the laughter. Go after corporate America because they're greedy hoarders with no regards for the average human? Because they're destroying the planet with their polluting the air and poisoning of our resources? Because they want to end democracy and replace it with a neo fascist Christian kleptocracy that benefits them and only them?
Of course not, don't be silly! You go after them for being "woke". For realizing that people and groups won't put up with trying to put others they deem inferior in their place and controlling them. For not putting up with racist, sexist, homophobic assholes who want to "deal with" these groups in a very terrible way.
Republicans, like Rubio the fucking child, have no clue about how the real world functions. That they keep on getting re-elected is the biggest scandal of all!