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ICYMI: Rubio Joins Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street

Apr 21, 2023 | Press Releases

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street to discuss the Chinese Communist Party, COVID-19, and more. Watch the full interview on YouTube and Rumble.

 
On the threat posed by Communist China:
 
“In the history of the world, no country has ever invested so much money so fast in undermining and overtaking the United States. The Soviet Union didn’t have that money. No one else has ever done it. This is the biggest challenge we have ever faced. 
 
“We’ve been talking about these things for years, because these things have been developing over the last decade. Some of us that serve on Intel, we see it coming ahead of time. You cited the police station that China had in New York to target Chinese Americans who were pro-democracy. We’ve been seeing this coming for a long time, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Every day, it’s an avalanche of news. 
 
“One of the things that frustrates me is when I hear people say, you guys are being hyperbolic, you’re exaggerating, it’s a red scare, or, you’re doing this for political purposes. We’d better wake up, because the challenge is much bigger than our commitment.”
 
On why the Biden Administration is ill-suited to counter Communist China: 
 
“For the most part, it’s staffed by creatures of a failed consensus that existed for 20, 25 years after the end of the Cold War. Everybody thought, everyone’s going to become free and capitalist, China included. We’re going to flood them with American goods, and by trading with us, they’re going to import our values, and China’s going to change. It didn’t work out that way.
 
“The only two beneficiaries of globalization were multinational corporations, many of them doing business in China, and the Chinese Communist Party that in many cases wiped out American jobs. The American middle class has paid for the rise of China. The American worker has paid for the rise of China. 
 
“These people are a product of [the failed globalist consensus]. Now, they understand, we’ve got to be tough on China politically, so let’s say we’re going to do something about TikTok. But at the same time, they’re inviting TikTok influencers into the White House. Tiktok lobbyists have visited the White House over 40 times under the Biden Administration. They’re not serious about getting rid of it.
 
“Janet Yellen spoke just recently, and she said two things that are really alarming to me. The first is she said, and I have it here, she said that we don’t seek a winner-take-all competition with China. That’s very nice, but China seeks a winner-take-all competition with us, so we’d better wake up to that reality. The other thing she said is that our goal is not to use our tools to gain a competitive economic advantage. Well, that’s China’s goals, and that better be ours. Our tools should be used to give Americans and American workers an advantage. The fact she would say those two things tells you everything you need to know about why these are the wrong people to deal with this.”
 
On the decision to admit China to the World Trade Organization:
 
“One of the biggest mistakes that policymakers have made, and it was a bipartisan mistake, was admitting China into the World Trade Organization. You can track that decision under the Clinton Administration. From that moment forward, you can track the destruction of the American middle class, the destruction of manufacturing in our country, the emptying out of multiple cities that were once vibrant places, the loss of industrial capacity, the overreliance on Chinese supply chains for everything from raw material to finished goods, putting us in a very dangerous predicament.” 
 
On legislation restricting American investment in Chinese companies:
 
“I think that’s important, because it’s stunning how much corporate cash from the United States is funding operations in China that directly benefit the [Chinese] military. We think that their corporations are like ours in America. Apple may have a contract with the military, but they’re not an extension of our government. IBM is not an extension of our government. Google is certainly not an extension of our government. But in China, there’s a military-civilian fusion. 
 
“Everything is fused. Whatever advances they make in any field are also used by the military. It’s all combined. When you’re doing a deal with a Chinese company or one of their national champions, you’re doing a deal with the Chinese Communist Party. You’re doing a deal with the Chinese military.”
 
On Americans’ loss of confidence in the Centers for Disease Control: 
 
“When we have hurricanes heading to Florida, and the National Hurricane Center says a hurricane is coming towards Florida, nobody doubts the National Hurricane Center. Imagine if they did, and people didn’t prepare. That’s how we need to have the CDC operate. But people have lost confidence. You’ve got not just this guidance that’s conflicting and constantly changing, but it seems to me and to a lot of people to have been influenced by politics. 
 
“What role did the teachers union play in having them continue with these recommendations about keeping kids out of school? I actually think they contributed to vaccine hesitancy by recommending vaccines that had not even been tested in young children, despite evidence, for example, of myocarditis and other related [risks] that outweighed the benefits of a vaccine. Perhaps the worst spokesperson the CDC has ever had, the current head of it—Walensky—last week said the vaccine is actually not very good at preventing transmission. 
 
“This is asking the General Accounting Office to go in and examine how the CDC makes these guidance, what’s influencing them? Is it just science and medicine? Or are they being influenced by politics? I think we already know the answer to that, but we want to see it in writing. That’s going to help a future CDC regain the confidence of the American people. We need a CDC people can believe in, not one that’s a political tool.”
 
On COVID-era censorship in America:
 
“If you were on Facebook or Twitter, and you said that you thought maybe this virus came from a lab, that was misinformation, they would take you down. If you said that the vaccine didn’t prevent the spread of the disease, they would take your messaging down. You could even have your account closed. 
 
“Things that were once considered misinformation and disinformation by these scientists and government agencies are now accepted facts, or at least in the case of the origins of COVID, something that the FBI and the Energy Department say is the fact. There’s a lot to be concerned about here with this messaging. I think they’ve undermined credibility. 
 
“And I worry. We may have a pandemic in the future, and it may be much worse than COVID. Are people going to believe the CDC? Are they going to believe the guidance? Are they going to be hesitant to follow their guidelines, knowing how they’ve undermined their credibility during the last pandemic? We have got to get that fixed.”