Did China Get to Marco Rubio?

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:06]Yeah, I think it's it is interesting that you know it all just becomes a a football based on like where like what is the what is the framing that makes the Trump administration look the worst and then disregarding everything else that happens like um we've talked about actions versus words, right? So Trump is like, "Oh, I'm not going to say whether I'm going to defend Taiwan or not." And then the National Defense Strategy comes out and it's like about how to like a large part of it is about how to essentially deal with China.

[00:00:42]>> Yeah.

[00:00:43]>> And um people are like, "Oh, uh Trump didn't mean that. He was upset about it because it was too anti-China." I saw somebody tweet that. Oh yeah, >> that like oh like uh Elbridge KBY who is the under secretary of for of defense for strategy something like that and who who's like this strategy comes from essentially from him because it's almost exactly the same as a book he wrote >> oh yeah >> a couple years ago and um he's a pretty big China hawk and so uh somebody was like oh yeah Elbridge KBY like Trump is very upset at him because he didn't like the national defense strategy because it was too anti-China. And I was like, how do you >> based on what do you make that claim?

[00:01:33]>> Yeah. It's just like or you know the whole Marco Rubio thing I talked about in the newsletter.

[00:01:41]uh which >> well the New York Times writing this article based around the fact that Marco Rubio is >> softening on China because he's trying to align himself with how Trump views >> China. Uh because he doesn't he's not as harsh rhetorically as he was as Secretary of State as he was in in the Senate. And like in this article, it lists in the middle a bunch of pretty harsh actions that the State Department has taken against China under Rubio. But like in the beginning it frames this as Rubio softening his message, you know, and it gives an anecdote about him even admiring the regime that he called a human rights, you know, abuser or whatever.

[00:02:35]>> Is that the one where they mentioned he pointed at the ceiling?

[00:02:38]>> Yeah, there was some like where he was like he met she and he didn't smile at she when he shook his hand. But then like you know m moments later when they walked into the great hall of the people where they're going to have this you know meeting he was like >> pointing up and laugh like admiring the you know like it was like he was admiring the architecture.

[00:03:00]>> This is this is what a diplomat does when he has literally nothing else positive to say about the CCP.

[00:03:05]>> He wasn't even admiring >> Americans are nice. He wasn't admiring it to Chinese leadership or anything.

[00:03:10]Like it was just like the American delegation walking in and then they caught a video of him kind of like talking to somebody else and he's like pointing up in the ceiling and kind of laughing.

[00:03:20]>> Oh. And then so we don't even know if he was admiring the ceiling.

[00:03:23]>> I mean it could be like oh yeah that's cool. Like it was like one of those Chinese cloud you know things in the ceiling. Like, yeah. I was just like, this is insanity that this >> I mean, also like on the way there, he dressed in like the Maduro jumpsuit.

[00:03:37]>> Oh, the tracksuit. Yeah.

[00:03:38]>> Yeah.

[00:03:39]>> I It just I Anyway, but then it like quoted him being like, "Oh, I have a different job now as Secretary of State.

[00:03:47]I need to be more diplomatic than it was."

[00:03:50]>> Could you imagine still reading the New York Times to get >> But but imagine imagine if he was acting the saying the same things he did as a senator. People would say, "Oh, he's not diplomatic enough."

[00:04:00]>> Oh, right. Yeah.

[00:04:01]>> He's a diplomat now.

[00:04:02]>> Yeah. He like, "Oh, how can like the Trump administration is playing with fire? How could they, you know, like piss off our, you know, the Yeah. We risking a war, etc. I mean, this is this is, you know, what we struggle so much with like on America Uncovered cuz we we like with that show, we're really trying to just present the facts and like, you know, not make one side right or wrong.

[00:04:28]And so people are so used to being told like what to think and who to hate that like we all the time like somebody will be like, "Oh, you're you're a libtard or in the same episode, you're a Trump tard." Yeah, less now, but um you know, people say cuck more.

[00:04:45]>> Oh, okay. Yay. Gay discourse.

[00:04:48]>> Yes.

[00:04:49]>> Uh but yeah, that's the thing. It's like if you start reading it and then you start to realize how you're not getting the actual information, everything has to be framed in a certain way. Like this story was not the story is essentially that Marco Rubio doesn't talk about China the same way he used to when he was a senator. Mhm.

[00:05:10]>> Um, and maybe that indicates that the Trump administration and this Rubio are going soft on China. And I was like, this guy, his family's from Cuba.

[00:05:22]>> Yeah.

[00:05:22]>> Like, he's literally still sanctioned by the CCP. They just decided to ignore it when he went to China >> because they had to.

[00:05:30]>> They had to. And so like I'm not worried that he's admiring a ceiling and that means that he's like suddenly changed his mind about the situ.

[00:05:42]>> Yeah. But I feel like that is that is the level of analysis that we get. Like there's so much of the analysis from this Trump she visit that I was just like are we kidding? Like it's just like a bunch of freaking out about things that we don't know whether they're true or not. Right.

[00:06:00]>> Yeah. It reminds me of years ago there was one of those two sessions or something one of those things and the BBC did an article about oh Trump had two cups of tea. What does that mean?

[00:06:12]>> Oh, Xi Jinping had two cups of tea.

[00:06:14]>> What did I say?

[00:06:15]>> Trump >> Oh, >> Trump was at the two sessions of the CCP.

[00:06:18]>> Two diet cokes.

[00:06:20]>> Yeah.

[00:06:20]>> What does it mean? Um yeah. Yeah. It's just it's just like which I mean, hey, that's why I think China Uncensored is so important. So, thank you for making it possible because we don't have the New York Times kind of actually. Do they have money anymore?

[00:06:34]>> Oh, way more than us.

[00:06:35]>> Way way more than us. That's right.

[00:06:37]>> Way way way way more than us. But yeah, I mean I was just thinking about how we've bucked the the consensus on a lot of things. Like remember when Hu Jing Ta got hustled out of that?

[00:06:50]>> Oh yeah. Yeah.

[00:06:50]>> And everyone was like this is a power play charge by Ci Jinping. And I like people we usually agree with more or less, you know, or even saying stuff like that and we were like >> pretty sure he's just like very ill.

[00:07:08]>> Yeah.

[00:07:08]>> And like he's not doing well and they were trying to cover it up by hustling him out of there.

[00:07:14]>> Yeah.

[00:07:15]>> Um but yeah, but then people were like, "Oh no, he's definitely It's like this like power struggle move." you know, people are just uh primed to see like it's very hard to actually step back and be like, "Okay, wait, this confirms all of my priors.

[00:07:33]That does that doesn't make it true."

[00:07:36]Right.

[00:07:37]>> Well, and then, you know, Hujun Tao came back for revenge and was behind Xi Jinping getting purged.

[00:07:44]>> Oh, right. Yeah. That's another thing that we bucked a lot of the >> Yeah. which is funny cuz like that whole thing was ridiculous but also then building off like the idea that he was like purged in that thing that we disagreed with as well. Like so it was practically wrong.

[00:08:00]>> Yeah. So that that like oh the hu would only want to get back at Chi for taking him down at that meeting.

[00:08:08]>> Yeah.

[00:08:09]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:08:11]>> Man, Shelly, if this is you, Rusty, I'd hate to see you as a welloiled machine.

[00:08:17]Thank you for watching this clip.

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