Ever since Joe Biden announced a (modest) amount of student loan forgiveness, Republicans have been up in arms. How dare President Joe Biden help alleviate the out-of-control debt that’s all but crippled a generation, say the likes of Lauren Boebert and Ted Cruz. Trouble is, any time they open their mouths about the subject, they only show how out-of-touch they are. Perhaps no one’s advice to debt-ridden graduates was more divorced from reality than that of Marco Rubio.
Rubio: The day I got elected in the Senate I had over $100k in student loans that I was able to pay off because I wrote a book pic.twitter.com/nTCCb4qvSH
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 28, 2022
The Florida senator, taking a break from pearl-clutching over the FBI’s legitimate search of Mar-a-Lago, went on Fox News to rail against “freeloaders” who’ve had to deal with astronomically high tuition and avalanche upon avalanche of rising interest rates. Unlike others in his party, he tried to be helpful…sort of…not really.
“I owed over a hundred thousand dollars in student loans. The day I got elected to the Senate I had over $100,000 still in student loans that I was able to pay off because I wrote a book and from that money, I was able to pay it. If not I would have never, I would still be paying it okay?” Rubio said. “So it’s not about, I think the student loan thing in America is a big problem and it’s broken and it needs to be fixed and it needs to be reformed and I have bipartisan ideas.”
That’s good that Rubio wants to reach across the aisle to fix “the student loan thing.” But the first part of his response? Less so. His advice — just write a book, dummy! — wasn’t exactly the sage sharing of wisdom he perhaps thought it was. Sure enough, people on social media were quick to call out his lousy counselling.
"Yeah, kids. Just take NRA blood money, get elected to the Senate and write a book, you lazy fucks!"
—@marcorubio https://t.co/y6Z5HKy3Aj— Randi Mayem Singer (@rmayemsinger) August 28, 2022
"It's stupid to tell working-class people the answer to the climate change problem is to get a $65,000 electric car!"
—Marco Rubio, Jul 27, 2022
"The answer to the student debt problem is to get a huge book deal because you're famous!"
—Marco Rubio, Aug 27, 2022 https://t.co/RqYLGruV8n
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) August 28, 2022
Marco Rubio’s solution for student debt is simple, practical and everyone should follow it.
Demand a $100k book advance from your publisher, just call your agent. https://t.co/R0ag3hRt6Z
— Grant Stern (@grantstern) August 28, 2022
It’s another case for the Total Lack of Self-Awareness Police. https://t.co/TSQyXiZGnf
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) August 28, 2022
Why haven’t more lazy good-for-nothings thought about this? Pay off those student loans by getting elected to the Senate, getting an $800,000 book advance, and then just pay someone else to actually write the book as Rubio did?! Kids these day are so lazy. https://t.co/Vc2KQrmEh1
— Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg) August 28, 2022
Marco Rubio's advice to Floridians struggling with student debt: become a career politician and profit off your position
I have a better idea, let's elect someone who will actually show up and fight for Floridians. pic.twitter.com/W2hYZVIDmz
— Val Demings (@valdemings) August 28, 2022
This is why I laugh at the idea that the student loan issue is going to hurt Democrats.
Republicans can't even open their mouth on this issue without saying something stunningly out of touch and divorced from how basically any normal person lives their lives. https://t.co/8ZmrKs1PyN
— Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) August 28, 2022
Others pointed out that he has some questionable ways of making money, such as donations from the NRA.
“And I only got $90,000 that year from the NRA. But since then they’ve given me $3,000,000! That’s what I call getting schooled.”
– Marco Rubio https://t.co/4VQUNExE5L— Ken Olin (@kenolin1) August 28, 2022
And all it cost you was your soul @marcorubio you pathetic pile of shit https://t.co/4uqXy6Oay1
— Keith Olbermann⌚️ (@KeithOlbermann) August 28, 2022
Others dredged up his sketchy financial past.
Rubio hasn’t had a real job since he babysat his brother-in-law’s cocaine stash house in 1985. His sugar daddy, Miami car oligarch and former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman, financed his entire political life and even bought him a teaching job at FIU. #BecauseMiami https://t.co/irVbJXLjlM
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) August 28, 2022
When Marco Rubio scolds you about paying for your student loans with good, honest work, remind Marco Rubio that his parents lived in a house paid for with cash their son-in-law made from dealing cocaine.
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) August 28, 2022
Lil Marco Rubio should keep his financial advice to himself. He’s a financial train wreck. https://t.co/uZzSaLk63W
— Daniel Uhlfelder (@DWUhlfelderLaw) August 28, 2022
It’s important to remember that not only did Rubes pay off his college debt with a “book” donors used to hose him down with free money but back when he was in the state legislature he got caught using his state gop credit card to cover his personal expenses. https://t.co/Ik1GEbO4Sc
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 28, 2022
And some pointed out that he didn’t even write that book — and that the ghostwriter may have been paid illegally.
Interesting how Rubio forgets to mention using $20,000 from his political committee to hire a ghost writer for his memoir, which was potentially an ethics violation. 🤡
Link: https://t.co/ElPxeZjkea https://t.co/WtMixcU9Aq
— Rep. Anna V. Eskamani 🔨 (@AnnaForFlorida) August 28, 2022
https://twitter.com/DataDrivenMD/status/1563691119677870080
Marco Rubio says he paid off his 100k in student loans by writing a book after being elected🙄that book is currently available for $1.45
He was under investigation for his 2nd book a Memoire for paying 20k to a ghostwriter from PAC💰
This is exactly how the GQP Swamp operates. pic.twitter.com/uaq4TIVOjt
— Papi Bébé Le Strange (@Papi_B_Dubs) August 28, 2022
I just remembered, @MarkSalter55, ghost-wrote @marcorubio’s book. Mark Salter was McCain’s long-time staff, friend and ghost-writer, except McCain gave him full credit as co-author AND donated millions in book proceeds to charity.
Obviously, Marco is no John McCain. https://t.co/uyHOfGReXx
— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) August 28, 2022
If you’re one of the millions who will still have gobs of student debt even after Biden’s modest proposal, at least you could always pay it off by writing a book — or paying someone else to do it for you.
(Via Raw Story)