OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio is warning that authoritarians are testing America and freedom because of who is currently in the White House.
During an interview on Fox News, Rubio spoke about the Russia-Ukraine conflict as well as threats from China.
“Almost all of human history has been about authoritarianism. History didn’t end with the fall of the Soviet Union. And now you have authoritarians in charge of some pretty powerful countries like Russia and China, and then they have nuclear weapons in places like North Korea and are trying to get them in Iran,” Rubio said.
“And so, what you are seeing here is a number of countries testing America, testing freedom. They view this as their opportunity right now to expand for a lot of different reasons. They see weakness in the White House, they see distractions and complacency in the West,” Rubio added.
Below is a partial transcript of the exchange:
SEAN HANNITY: We have Afghanistan, we know the disaster that became. We had over the week ballistic missiles from Iran slamming into a base in Iraq but they are saying we weren’t the target. I’m not sure I buy that. China is the morning of the worst consequences of any country that supports Taiwan militarily. Senator, you know as well as I do that we have an agreement with Taiwan and we are an ally of Taiwan. Are we going to abandon them next?
RUBIO: I think what this is reminding us of is if you look at the history of mankind, about 5500 years, it’s largely been the story of authoritarianism. What we have here in America, you were saying it in your monologue at the outset, it’s very rare and unique, almost all of human history has been about a tort to authoritarianism. Now you have authoritarians in charge of some pretty powerful countries like Russia, China and then they have nuclear weapons, places like North Korea, and they’re trying to get them in Iran. And so what you’re seeing here is the number of countries testing freedom.
They view this as their opportunity right now to expand for a lot of different reasons. They see weakness in the White House, they see distractions and complacency in the west, and are we — yeah, do I believe the American people are prepared to do what it takes to defend Taiwan? Absolutely. But just know we are not going to have the same options to sanction China him as we’ve had sanction Russia which is reminding us why we need to protect her own economy.
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