Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) thinks corporations should either keep their mouths shut or make a statement about every injustice in the world.
On April Fools Day, Rubio posted a video on Twitter blasting Delta Airlines for making a public statement decrying Georgia’s restrictive voting law when it remains silent on China’s human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims.
Rubio complained that Delta is “business partners with the Chinese Communist Party, the same … party that is committing genocide against Uyghur Muslims inside of China.”
He then called Delta, as well as Coca-Cola and other companies “who are out there proving to the world how woke they are,” hypocrites for making “billions” from the Chinese market.
Georgia recently passed a voting law that is among the more restrictive of a slate of laws Republicans have proposed since the November election. Many have criticized such laws for reducing voting access for minorities.
After facing public outcry, Delta and Coca-Cola, both of which are headquartered in Georgia, joined the chorus slamming the law.
Rubio, apparently, thinks they should’ve stayed silent.
People quickly went on the offensive over Rubio’s take, accusing him of hypocrisy for staying silent on matters such as his fellow Florida Republican lawmaker Rep. Matt Gaetz’s scandal.
Many also opined that it isn’t woke to oppose racism.
“Marco Rubio is wrong. It’s not ‘woke’ to be anti-racist. It’s not ‘woke’ to protect our democracy,” tweeted Bryce Tache.
Others pointed out that Republicans like Rubio have no qualms about deeming corporations persons in the context of accepting unlimited campaign donations, but seemingly draw the line at them having opinions they don’t personally agree with.
Morning Joe openly mocked Rubio along these lines on Friday morning.
“You know, first they say corporations are people and, therefore, we get to have all the dark money, corporate money in elections and Republicans are rah, rah, rah, corporations are people,” former Sen. Claire McCaskill said. “Then corporations speak out about what they think is right and wrong in a country that treasures the First Amendment and then the Republicans get into a hypocritical four-point stance on we’re going to be the cancel culture.”
Rubio was thoroughly dragged on Twitter, which always relishes ganging up on Florida’s senior senator.
“You don’t like hypocrites? My man, I have some really bad news for you…” one person commented on his video.
Republicans claim that these restrictive voting laws are necessary because of fraud in the 2020 election. There have been no reports of widespread fraud, in Georgia or elsewhere.