Rubio warns of American ‘decline’ that he has enabled | Randy Schultz

If Santa rewarded people based on hypocrisy, Marco Rubio would have a very merry Christmas.

Florida’s senior senator told Politico that President-elect Biden’s Ivy League-educated appointees “will be polite and orderly caretakers of America’s decline.” Rubio added, “I believe in American greatness.”

First, let’s consider Rubio’s snark about credentials. Though he faults Biden’s Ivy Leaguers, Rubio voted to confirm Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson. All graduated from Yale.

Rubio also voted to confirm Attorney General William Barr (Columbia) and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (Harvard Law). President Trump’s degree is from the University of Pennsylvania.

Like Kamala Harris, Rubio did vote against Jerome Powell, the Princeton-educated chairman of the Federal Reserve. That is an especially stupid vote in retrospect, since economists credit Powell’s policies for minimizing damage from the COVID-19 pandemic.

More hypocritical, though, is Rubio’s forecast of “decline” under Biden. His comment presumes that Trump has made America great. How wrong that is.

No major country has underperformed more during the pandemic than the United States. Aided and abetted by Republicans at many levels, Trump squandered our many pre-pandemic advantages.

In late October, the Journal of the American Medical Association issued a study of deaths from both COVID-19 and other sources. In terms of per capita “all cause” mortality rates — the key metric — the U.S. has done far worse than the other 17 high-income countries in the study. All have populations of at least five million.

That is American decline, not American greatness.

Trump’s abysmal pandemic response helps to explain why our allies have come to view America so negatively. As with the virus, the numbers don’t lie.

In September, the Pew Research Center reported that our 13 closest allies in Europe and Asia see the United States far less favorably than they did when Barack Obama was president. Residents of those countries were particularly hostile to Trump.

Only 20% of Canadians expressed confidence in Trump’s ability to make sound decisions in world affairs. In Germany, the figure was 10%. Trump’s best numbers were in Japan and Australia, at just 25% and 23%, respectively.

That is American decline, not American greatness.

Under Trump, the United States has withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement, sidelining the country on an issue that is vital to Florida. Trump has withdrawn the country from the World Health Organization, giving China and Russia more of an opportunity to use COVID-19 vaccines to extend their influence.

Yes, even though the virus came from China, Trump has made the United States look less responsible on the virus than China.

That is American decline, not American greatness.

No issue, however, makes Rubio look more hypocritical than the craven reaction by most Republicans to the presidential election results.

Four years ago, Hillary Clinton lost Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin by far fewer votes than Trump lost them to Biden. Reversing those votes would have made Clinton president.

Yet Clinton delivered a concession speech two days after the election. Democrats didn’t complain that the media had prematurely called the election for Trump. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell immediately declared that the people had spoken. Leading congressional Democrats acknowledged Trump’s victory.

This year, however, McConnell said Trump has “every right” to challenge the results. Four weeks after the election, he has not acknowledged Biden’s win.

No one can stop Trump from lying about a supposedly “rigged” election. By refusing to challenge Trump, however, Republicans are complicit in the threat Trump poses to democracy.

Consider the irony. Republicans did well in South Florida by portraying Democrats as sympathetic to socialist dictators such as those in Cuba and Venezuela. By seeking to overturn what the government’s top election cybersecurity official called the nation’s “most secure election,” however, Trump exhibits behavior more typical of Fidel Castro and Nicolas Maduro than an American president.

“The legitimacy of our republic requires public confidence in our elections,” Rubio said. “The fact that 70% of Republicans don’t believe the 2020 election was free and fair — that should be of concern to everyone.”

It is, but not in the way Rubio hypocritically suggests.

And that is American decline.

Randy Schultz’s email address is randy@bocamag.com.

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