Local paper slams Marco Rubio: He can't 'find the spine' to condemn Trump's racism

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) “has transformed from Trump critic to a sycophantic cheerleader,” the Miami Herald editorial board wrote Sunday after Rubio refused to condemn Trump’s racist attacks against four congresswomen.

The editorial board, from Rubio’s home town, was incensed at his “pathetic response,” adding that Rubio, the state’s senior senator, has “abandoned the pretense of idealism or principles” that he once stood for.

On July 14, Trump launched a racist attack on Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), saying the four women should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

Telling people of color to “go back” to where they came from “is intended to deprive people of their Americanness based on skin color and ethnicity. It’s racist to its core, and those who don’t call it out enable it,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board said in an article published on July 18.

At a Trump rally on Wednesday, the audience broke into a chant of “send her back.” The comments were directed at Omar, who is black. Trump stood on stage and did nothing to silence the chants, which came from a predominantly white audience.

Even after the Trump rally, Rubio “couldn’t muster the courage to truly object to the horrifying display of blatant racism,” the Miami Herald editorial board said.

The Herald said he “should have a deeper understanding of America’s tortured racial history and comprehensive knowledge of the animosity once faced by Cuban immigrants like his parents.”

When Rubio was competing against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, the Florida senator had harsh words for Trump. Rubio attacked Trump as a “con artist” who will “never get control of this party.”

A few years later, Rubio has completely capitulated to Trump.

In June, an Orlando Sentinel reporter commented that is was “fascinating to see Rubio … sit, stand and applaud when Trump commands.”

The Miami Herald briefly praised Rubio’s stance on Venezuela, but the one issue was not enough to make up for the fact that Rubio “could not find the spine to do more than mildly criticize Trump after his blatantly racist attacks on four Democratic congresswomen.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.