Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) pissed off Twitter users on Friday by whining about criticism of President Donald Trump over his rebranding of coronavirus as the “Chinese virus,” only to get reamed in response.
Trump has been calling coronavirus “Chinese virus” in an effort to distract the public with a racist dog-whistle that he somehow hopes will make everyone forget that his reckless response to the pandemic allowed the virus to sweep the country and crash our economy.
Trump’s racist insult has drawn outrage because while the virus may have originated from China, the Chinese people are not at fault for it. Yet, his rhetoric has resulted in racism and violence against Asian people, compounding the crisis.
Rather than shame Trump, Rubio is defending him by attacking the critics.
Virtually every American was either laid off or has family members & friends who have.
I know AN ENTIRE IMMEDIATE FAMILY (husband,wife,two adult children & their 2 spouses) all laid off in last 72 hours.
But some people want to argue over what name we should use for the virus
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 20, 2020
Unfortunately, that was a bad call by Rubio, who swiftly suffered the wrath of social media.
“just let the racist be racist” is not the insightful hot take you believe it to be, Marco
— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) March 20, 2020
.@marcorubio, as I have experience with how you and he divert attention with words, YES IT MATTERS!!! Stop protecting what he is doing. His words will lead to another act of violence or a shooting, something you and I both have experience with. Marco, be productive or be quiet.
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) March 20, 2020
No, Rubes, we don’t want to argue on what name to use. We want the creep you’re blindly worshipping, to stop weaponizing a pandemic with racism and nationalism in order to hide his complete ineptitude, causing national financial collapse/ unnecessary death—you useless sycophant.
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) March 20, 2020
Who is it that is trying to make the name of the virus into a big issue? I forget. pic.twitter.com/28tWkIQKd8
— Arieh Kovler (@ariehkovler) March 20, 2020
Ok, then. Let’s call it Rubio Herpes. You good with that? Or would you waste time arguing now? https://t.co/mvOGwW6cKH
— David Waldman-1, of Yorktown LLC™ (@KagroX) March 20, 2020
Correction, Marco. Some people want to create distractions so that they will not be held accountable for getting us into this mess. Other people, namely you, want to help them because you were ALSO responsible having enabled this shit show for three years.
Bible verse that.
— Drew Emery (@InlawsOutlaws) March 20, 2020
How miserable it must be to go from being the darling of the tea party— the hope for the GOP — the future first Cuban american President to being a 2nd tier flunky for Trump.
you’re not even in the top shelf of trump flunkies. You’re the guy on the outside trying to get in
— Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) March 20, 2020
Since you fucking shitweebles minimized and lied about and laughed at this goddamn pandemic until you had no choice but to act, we all have plenty of time to do both.
— Lauren Hough (@laurenthehough) March 20, 2020
Rubio should have grown a spine and challenged Trump’s racism. Apparently, however, he’s so pathetic that he would rather be ridiculed and mocked as a punchline. That’s his legacy.
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