Marco Rubio: “Modernizing” Conservatism
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
The New Yorker
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2018
⏱️ 22 minutes
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Summary
Not so long ago, Senator Marco Rubio was seen as the shining future of the G.O.P.: a staunch, national-security-minded conservative who was young, charismatic, and a popular Latino politician in a crucial swing state. That was before Donald Trump’s instinct for insult rendered him “Little Marco.”
Since the election of 2016, Rubio—like many traditional conservatives—has been weighing what it means to be a Republican in the age of Trump. Rubio spoke with the newyorker.com columnist Susan B. Glasser about the threat of China and the future of his party. “We’re modernizing,” Rubio tells her. “Just like every couple weeks I get an update that there’s a software update on my phone that I should download. I think we have to update it, because there’s new ideas and new realities.” “Do you always update those?” Glasser wonders. “Generally,” Rubio replies. “Depends what the fix is.”
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| 0:48.8 | I'm Dorothy Wickendon. |
| 0:50.5 | On today's Politics and More podcast, Senator Marco Rubio speaks with the New Yorker Susan Glasser. |
| 0:56.8 | Rubio discusses the threat posed by China and how the Republican Party has changed since the election of Donald Trump. |
| 1:06.1 | There was a time quite recently in the scheme of things when Marco Rubio was the shining future |
| 1:12.0 | of the Republican Party. |
| 1:13.2 | He was a conservative, a national security type, but young and charismatic. |
| 1:18.5 | And he represents the crucial swing state of Florida. |
| 1:21.4 | Republicans had been saying that they really needed to capture the Latino vote, and Senator |
| 1:25.6 | Rubio, whose Cuban Americans seemed like the guy who could do it. |
| 1:29.6 | Now, that was before he went up against Donald Trump, who indelibly dubbed him Little Marco. |
| 1:35.9 | And we know how that story ended. |
| 1:38.2 | Senator Rubio had said that he would quit politics if he didn't win the presidential election, but he had a sudden change of heart. |
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