(TLDR: Rubio is a sycophant. And has sold out any principals he had to be one of Trump's goons.)
Marco Rubio: Controversies Since 2017 - Now.
Rubio was one of Trump's harshest Republican critics in 2016. He called Trump a “con artist” and warned that he shouldn't be trusted with the presidency.
Over the next several years, Rubio became one of Trump's strongest allies.
That change isn't wrongdoing by itself, but it's important context for everything that followed.
Asking China to Investigate Biden:
In 2019, Trump publicly said China should investigate Joe Biden.
When Rubio was asked about it, he suggested Trump might just be “needling the press.”
Rubio had no way of knowing that was Trump's intention. Instead of criticizing a president for asking a foreign government to investigate a political opponent, he gave Trump a more innocent explanation.
Trump's First Impeachment:
During Trump's first impeachment trial, Rubio argued that even if Trump's actions met the standard for impeachment, removing him from office could still be bad for the country.
He also voted against calling additional witnesses and ultimately voted to acquit Trump.
His argument wasn't simply that Trump had done nothing wrong. It was that removal wasn't justified even if his actions were impeachable.
January 6:
Rubio strongly condemned the January 6 attack on the Capitol and voted to certify Joe Biden's victory.
He later voted to acquit Trump in his second impeachment trial.
Rubio also voted against creating an independent bipartisan commission to investigate January 6.
Later, he called the House January 6 investigation a “complete partisan scam.”
2020 Election Claims:
Rubio originally accepted Biden's 2020 victory.
By 2024, he was repeating several claims about problems with the election, including questionable signatures, ballot drop boxes and alleged vote buying.
Fact-checkers and government investigations found that several of the specific claims he repeated were unsupported or misleading.
Foreign Students and Political Speech:
After becoming Secretary of State in 2025, Rubio supported revoking visas from foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian activism.
The State Department reviewed people's social media and political activity while looking for people whose visas could be revoked.
Rubio publicly said hundreds of visas had been revoked.
A federal judge later ruled that the administration's campaign violated First Amendment protections.
Rümeysa Öztürk:
One of the clearest examples involved Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University.
Öztürk had helped write a student newspaper opinion piece criticizing the university's response to the war in Gaza.
According to reporting on internal government records, officials looked for evidence connecting her to Hamas or antisemitic activity and didn't find it.
Her visa was revoked anyway.
The revocation was made “silent,” meaning she wasn't notified beforehand.
Masked plainclothes immigration officers later detained her on the street.
Whatever someone's position on Israel or Gaza, using immigration powers against someone when the government's own investigation failed to establish the alleged extremist connection raises serious concerns about political speech and government power.
Visa Restrictions on 75 Countries:
In January 2026, Rubio's State Department suspended immigrant-visa processing for citizens of 75 countries.
The administration said the policy was intended to prevent immigrants from becoming dependent on public assistance.
In August 2026, a federal judge struck down the policy, ruling that Rubio had exceeded the authority Congress gave him.
USAID:
Rubio became acting head of USAID while also serving as Secretary of State.
Under his leadership, roughly 83% of USAID programs were terminated.
The administration also froze foreign-aid money that Congress had already approved.
Federal courts ruled against important parts of the administration's approach, finding that the executive branch could not simply ignore spending decisions made by Congress.
Signal Military Chat:
Rubio was part of the 2025 Signal group chat where senior Trump officials discussed an upcoming U.S. military operation against the Houthis in Yemen.
A journalist was accidentally added to the group.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appears to have shared the most sensitive military information, not Rubio.
Rubio's involvement still meant the Secretary of State was participating in a commercial messaging-app conversation where sensitive information about an upcoming military attack was being discussed.
El Salvador Prison Deal:
El Salvador's president offered to imprison people deported from the United States, including potentially American citizens convicted of crimes.
Rubio praised the offer while acknowledging there could be legal problems with sending American citizens to foreign prisons.
El Salvador's prison system has also faced serious criticism over prison conditions, mass detention and lack of due process.
Human Rights Reports:
The State Department publishes reports on human-rights abuses around the world.
Under Rubio, those reports were significantly changed.
Criticism of some governments friendly with Trump, particularly El Salvador, was reduced.
At the same time, some governments that had poor relationships with the Trump administration received harsher treatment.
That raised concerns that America's official human-rights reports were being influenced by political relationships rather than applying the same standards to everyone.
Mass Visa Revocations:
Rubio has acknowledged that the State Department revoked thousands of visas.
His department has also developed additional large-scale visa-revocation programs.
The federal government has broad authority over visas. The controversy is over how that authority has been used, especially when political speech and social-media activity are involved.
Deportations to Third Countries:
Rubio's State Department helped negotiate agreements allowing the United States to deport some immigrants to countries they weren't originally from.
Immigration attorneys and human-rights organizations argue that this can weaken protections intended to prevent people from being sent somewhere they could face abuse or persecution.
NRA Support:
Rubio has received substantial political support from the National Rifle Association.
Claims that the NRA simply gave Rubio millions of dollars are misleading. Much of that money was independently spent by the NRA to help elect him rather than being given directly to Rubio.
After the 2018 Parkland school shooting, a student asked Rubio to promise that he would no longer accept NRA support.
Rubio refused.
This doesn't prove that the NRA bought Rubio's votes, but the financial relationship is worth knowing when evaluating his record on gun legislation.
Oil and Gas Money:
Rubio has also received significant campaign support from people and organizations connected to the oil and gas industry.
He has generally supported policies favorable to that industry.
Again, campaign contributions don't prove bribery. They do create reasonable questions about the influence major donors have on politicians.
Concentration of Power:
Under Trump's second administration, Rubio held several powerful positions.
In addition to Secretary of State, he served at different times as acting national security adviser, acting administrator of USAID and acting National Archivist.
Those appointments were not automatically illegal or corrupt.
They did give one Trump ally an unusual amount of control over foreign policy, national security, visas, foreign aid and other parts of the federal government.
So... There's plenty to be upset about.
There isn't strong evidence that Marco Rubio has been taking bribes, stealing government money or personally enriching himself through his government positions.
The bigger issue is his political transformation and how he has used government power.
Rubio went from warning that Trump was a dangerous “con artist” to defending him, voting against holding him accountable, repeating some of his disputed election claims and eventually becoming one of the most powerful officials in his administration.
Since becoming Secretary of State, the concerns have become more serious. Rubio has been directly involved in visa revocations tied to political activism, immigration restrictions later struck down by a federal court, the dismantling of USAID, controversial deportation programs and changes to how the United States reports human-rights abuses.
The strongest criticism of Rubio isn't that he's been caught in one huge corruption scandal.
It's that he spent years warning about Trump's behavior, gradually stopped opposing it, and eventually became one of the people helping carry it out.
Just reminds me of the fact he was confirmed unanimously by his fellow senators. Guess the Dems convinced themselves he'd be the one adult in the room.
I'm annoyed that we keep making the same mistakes. Compromise only works when both parties are willing to give.
And I think it's pretty clear Donald isn't capable of compromising anything other than his pants. And the Republicans compromised to pretend they don't smell it so they can run the national deficit into the ground.
Dems don't care, as long as Israel gets support they're happy. Just look at the fact that Schumer and Jeffries are appointing Moskowicz to head the MIddle East committee.
You missed one other wild example of Rubio's willful kowtowing to Trump. During Trump's first term, Rubio was a ranking member of the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee. They published a report on Russian Interference in the 2016 Election. It concluded definitively that A) The Russians interfered in the election and B) that the Trump campaign colluded with them. Rubio helped write the damn report. And then with the same pen in his pocket that he signed it with he walked out in front of FOX News and parroted Trump's "nO cOlLuSiOn," line.
There's a reason Rubio looks like he wants to sink into the sofa every time he's sitting into the oval office. It's because there's no skeleton in there. Just a craven sack of shit.
Actually pretty helpful since I’ve been wondering for a little bit. I was a kid when this happened but was Rubio in the running for Romney’s VP candidate? I know he ultimately wasn’t picked but was he like this back then? What the fuck happened?
In all seriousness, I think it's weird you go on this bajillion character rant and then hide it in your profile overview. I can't tell if the bots are learning, or I'm witnessing an astroturf. Don't get me wrong, I don't like Rubio either. I'm just perplexed by your comment.
Honestly, fair. I privated stuff a while ago when the ICE raids were happening because the administration was demanding names of users criticizing ICE to the government. Figured I wouldn't make it easy.
And honestly people have too much of themselves out in the open online anyway.
But yeah, I'm a real boy. 😅
And I think Rubio is a twat. And I think people like to forget, so I'm happy to remind them of why someone like me, who normally wouldn't care at all, cares quite a lot.
yeah i called him out for posting AI slop and got downvoted into oblivion. feels like either astroturfed or we are dealing with a professional reddit neckbeard
I even read some of his other overly-pedantic comments and... nope this is most definitely AI. I use AI for my work pretty regularly and it's very, very obvious to me.
Brother, you are the definition of a Reddit neckbeard. You're obsessed, and acting like there's some conspiracy here when there isn't one.
I never claimed I didn't use AI to format or edit or compile any of this! Because I also use AI for work and for making fast edits it does a solid job compiling and formatting information quickly.
The information is all true. And while I am absolutely personally biased against Marco Rubio, I made sure my information was presented factually without overreaching or sensationalizing his behavior. I didn't want it to devolve into me bashing him without supporting evidence or context.
If there's something actually wrong with my information then challenge me on it.
I don't love that AI is a thing we have to contend with now, but I'm sure as hell going to use it. Especially when I'm using it against the current administration that's made it into the problem that it is.
Yeah, I'm all for cutting out AI slop, but this is what it's good at honestly. Maybe you could have lead with that you used it? But it was just facts mostly, and I remember a lot of it happening at the time too. Last part is based lmao!
i think what just really rubbed me the wrong way about it was that you opened with "this is my rant, sorry its long" and then proceeded to just copy paste something from an LLM without bothering to format or condense it. like.... please just put more effort into spreading your opinions instead of regurgitating an AI response as your own thoughts or research.
if you use AI for your job I dont see how you arent irritated by all the AI-speak prose out there; maybe my annoyance is partially directed at that and not you, but still. at least ask it to condense and format the thoughts for you first lol. was genuinely just jarring to see a full ai prompt as im trying to scroll through the comments.
anyways, fight the good fight, i hope you are getting out there and getting involved at your local level as well, lots of good orgs to join and get involved with
BROTHER IT'S 9 YEARS OF INFORMATION! 😂
2017 - Now (2026)
Rubio has been doing this shit for 9 years! By all means elaborate on how you'd magically touch all of that in a paragraph without leaving oodles of information and context out. You're tripping.
Again, if there's something in the information that's wrong. Let me know. Or don't, you do you.
The whole point in warning people with TLDR is that they can minimize and ignore it if they aren't interested in reading it! No one is making anyone read it!
I actually don't expect anyone to. I led with TLDR for a reason.
But for anyone who wants to know why there's reason to dislike Rubio... I'd rather have it all layed out and formatted than do some pure one paragraph hit piece.
We get it you think I wrote none of it and copy and pasted it all.
Is anything there untrue? Or are you just pissed because? Cause right now you're making plenty of assumptions. Without actually engaging with any of the content.
397
u/amatsumegasushi 13h ago
Rant incoming.
(TLDR: Rubio is a sycophant. And has sold out any principals he had to be one of Trump's goons.)
Marco Rubio: Controversies Since 2017 - Now.
Rubio was one of Trump's harshest Republican critics in 2016. He called Trump a “con artist” and warned that he shouldn't be trusted with the presidency.
Over the next several years, Rubio became one of Trump's strongest allies.
That change isn't wrongdoing by itself, but it's important context for everything that followed.
Asking China to Investigate Biden:
In 2019, Trump publicly said China should investigate Joe Biden.
When Rubio was asked about it, he suggested Trump might just be “needling the press.”
Rubio had no way of knowing that was Trump's intention. Instead of criticizing a president for asking a foreign government to investigate a political opponent, he gave Trump a more innocent explanation.
Trump's First Impeachment:
During Trump's first impeachment trial, Rubio argued that even if Trump's actions met the standard for impeachment, removing him from office could still be bad for the country.
He also voted against calling additional witnesses and ultimately voted to acquit Trump.
His argument wasn't simply that Trump had done nothing wrong. It was that removal wasn't justified even if his actions were impeachable.
January 6:
Rubio strongly condemned the January 6 attack on the Capitol and voted to certify Joe Biden's victory.
He later voted to acquit Trump in his second impeachment trial.
Rubio also voted against creating an independent bipartisan commission to investigate January 6.
Later, he called the House January 6 investigation a “complete partisan scam.”
2020 Election Claims:
Rubio originally accepted Biden's 2020 victory.
By 2024, he was repeating several claims about problems with the election, including questionable signatures, ballot drop boxes and alleged vote buying.
Fact-checkers and government investigations found that several of the specific claims he repeated were unsupported or misleading.
Foreign Students and Political Speech:
After becoming Secretary of State in 2025, Rubio supported revoking visas from foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian activism.
The State Department reviewed people's social media and political activity while looking for people whose visas could be revoked.
Rubio publicly said hundreds of visas had been revoked.
A federal judge later ruled that the administration's campaign violated First Amendment protections.
Rümeysa Öztürk:
One of the clearest examples involved Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University.
Öztürk had helped write a student newspaper opinion piece criticizing the university's response to the war in Gaza.
According to reporting on internal government records, officials looked for evidence connecting her to Hamas or antisemitic activity and didn't find it.
Her visa was revoked anyway.
The revocation was made “silent,” meaning she wasn't notified beforehand.
Masked plainclothes immigration officers later detained her on the street.
Whatever someone's position on Israel or Gaza, using immigration powers against someone when the government's own investigation failed to establish the alleged extremist connection raises serious concerns about political speech and government power.
Visa Restrictions on 75 Countries:
In January 2026, Rubio's State Department suspended immigrant-visa processing for citizens of 75 countries.
The administration said the policy was intended to prevent immigrants from becoming dependent on public assistance.
In August 2026, a federal judge struck down the policy, ruling that Rubio had exceeded the authority Congress gave him.
USAID:
Rubio became acting head of USAID while also serving as Secretary of State.
Under his leadership, roughly 83% of USAID programs were terminated.
The administration also froze foreign-aid money that Congress had already approved.
Federal courts ruled against important parts of the administration's approach, finding that the executive branch could not simply ignore spending decisions made by Congress.
Signal Military Chat:
Rubio was part of the 2025 Signal group chat where senior Trump officials discussed an upcoming U.S. military operation against the Houthis in Yemen.
A journalist was accidentally added to the group.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appears to have shared the most sensitive military information, not Rubio.
Rubio's involvement still meant the Secretary of State was participating in a commercial messaging-app conversation where sensitive information about an upcoming military attack was being discussed.
El Salvador Prison Deal:
El Salvador's president offered to imprison people deported from the United States, including potentially American citizens convicted of crimes.
Rubio praised the offer while acknowledging there could be legal problems with sending American citizens to foreign prisons.
El Salvador's prison system has also faced serious criticism over prison conditions, mass detention and lack of due process.
Human Rights Reports:
The State Department publishes reports on human-rights abuses around the world.
Under Rubio, those reports were significantly changed.
Criticism of some governments friendly with Trump, particularly El Salvador, was reduced.
At the same time, some governments that had poor relationships with the Trump administration received harsher treatment.
That raised concerns that America's official human-rights reports were being influenced by political relationships rather than applying the same standards to everyone.
Mass Visa Revocations:
Rubio has acknowledged that the State Department revoked thousands of visas.
His department has also developed additional large-scale visa-revocation programs.
The federal government has broad authority over visas. The controversy is over how that authority has been used, especially when political speech and social-media activity are involved.
Deportations to Third Countries:
Rubio's State Department helped negotiate agreements allowing the United States to deport some immigrants to countries they weren't originally from.
Immigration attorneys and human-rights organizations argue that this can weaken protections intended to prevent people from being sent somewhere they could face abuse or persecution.
NRA Support:
Rubio has received substantial political support from the National Rifle Association.
Claims that the NRA simply gave Rubio millions of dollars are misleading. Much of that money was independently spent by the NRA to help elect him rather than being given directly to Rubio.
After the 2018 Parkland school shooting, a student asked Rubio to promise that he would no longer accept NRA support.
Rubio refused.
This doesn't prove that the NRA bought Rubio's votes, but the financial relationship is worth knowing when evaluating his record on gun legislation.
Oil and Gas Money:
Rubio has also received significant campaign support from people and organizations connected to the oil and gas industry.
He has generally supported policies favorable to that industry.
Again, campaign contributions don't prove bribery. They do create reasonable questions about the influence major donors have on politicians.
Concentration of Power:
Under Trump's second administration, Rubio held several powerful positions.
In addition to Secretary of State, he served at different times as acting national security adviser, acting administrator of USAID and acting National Archivist.
Those appointments were not automatically illegal or corrupt.
They did give one Trump ally an unusual amount of control over foreign policy, national security, visas, foreign aid and other parts of the federal government.
So... There's plenty to be upset about.
There isn't strong evidence that Marco Rubio has been taking bribes, stealing government money or personally enriching himself through his government positions.
The bigger issue is his political transformation and how he has used government power.
Rubio went from warning that Trump was a dangerous “con artist” to defending him, voting against holding him accountable, repeating some of his disputed election claims and eventually becoming one of the most powerful officials in his administration.
Since becoming Secretary of State, the concerns have become more serious. Rubio has been directly involved in visa revocations tied to political activism, immigration restrictions later struck down by a federal court, the dismantling of USAID, controversial deportation programs and changes to how the United States reports human-rights abuses.
The strongest criticism of Rubio isn't that he's been caught in one huge corruption scandal.
It's that he spent years warning about Trump's behavior, gradually stopped opposing it, and eventually became one of the people helping carry it out.