U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, an ally of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, will not accept the results of the Nov. 5 election if they are “unfair,” he said on Sunday.
“Will you accept the election results of 2024, no matter what happens, senator?” NBC News’ “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker asked Rubio, a Florida Republican, in an interview.
“No matter what happens? No,” Rubio answered. “If it’s an unfair election, I think it’s going to be contested by either side.”
Trump and his allies are laying the groundwork to contest a potential loss in November, stoking doubts about the election’s legitimacy even as polls show the former president leading in battleground states, Reuters reported on Thursday.
In principle yes, of course, but I think we all can be reasonably suspicious that Rubio is using this exact justification as a smoke screen to lay the groundwork of sowing doubt to manufacture a false “controversy” come election time. He’s also being just vague enough that he can play both sides, too, depending on which option he finds most politically beneficial. I’m glad to have people scrutinize our electoral process, but not when they start from a predetermined conclusion. Which I know I’m also doing by assuming Rubio’s intent, but it’s not like we haven’t been here before.
He answered the question without a pre-determined conclusion. He answered with a conditional statement. That is how you answer the question without a pre-determined conclusion.
“If it’s unfair, we are going to do the same thing Democrats do,” Rubio said. “We’re going to use lawyers to go to court and point out the fact that states are not following their own election laws.”
That is the most reasonable way to answer that question. If an election is unfair, you should take reasonable actions to mitigate things, and accept the result otherwise, which is what he said. If anyone is trying to create a narrative its NBC for choosing to ask the question.
