10 reasons Marco Rubio is no moderate

The GOP's "establishment" candidate is a climate change denier who remains open to the idea of closing U.S. mosques

Published March 1, 2016 9:12PM (EST)

Marco Rubio   (AP/Star Max)
Marco Rubio (AP/Star Max)

This originally appeared on Robert Reich's blog.

Marco Rubio is being positioned as a moderate alternative to Ted Cruz or Donald Trump.  Baloney.  His positions are extreme right.  Consider these 10 facts about Rubio:

1. Rubio wants to repeal Obama’s executive order to expand background checks and close gun sale loopholes.

2. When asked about closing down mosques, Rubio said he wants to shutdown “any place radicals are inspired.”

3. He denies humans are responsible for climate change.

4. His tax plan gives the top 1 percent over $200,000 in tax cuts every year. That’s as bad as Donald Trump’s tax plan.

5. He wants to cut $4.3 trillion in spending, including funds from Medicare and other programs, essentially freeze federal spending at 2008 levels for everything except the Pentagon.

6. He wants a permanent U.S. presence in Iraq, and would end the nuclear deal with Iran, putting us on a path to war.

7. We have no way to know where he is on immigration because he’s flip-flopped — first working on legislation to regularize citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and now firmly anti-legalization.

8. He wants to repeal Obamacare.

9. He’s against a woman’s right to choose, even in cases of rape and incest.

10. Although elected to the Senate as a Tea Party favorite, he’s now the establishment’s favorite Republican. Among his donors are hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer and the executives and PACs of Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and Koch Industries.


By Robert Reich

Robert B. Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written 15 books, including the best sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of Nations," and"Beyond Outrage," and, his most recent, "The Common Good." He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary, "Inequality For All." He's also co-creator of the Netflix original documentary "Saving Capitalism."

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Donald Trump Marco Rubio Obamacare Robertreich.org Ted Cruz