Florida Sen. Marco Rubio called for fellow Republicans not to ''destroy ourselves'' following the protest in Washington on Wednesday that breached the Capitol building, saying ''we can’t let our anger … turn us into them.''
In a video lasting more than four minutes posted to YouTube on Friday, Rubio criticized the protests and chaos at the Capitol that resulted in five deaths — a police officer and four protesters, two from heart attacks, one from another medical condition, and another shot by Capitol police.
''The events that we saw this week should sicken every single one of us,'' Rubio said to begin the video. ''Mob violence of the kind you see in third-world countries happened, not just in America, but in your Capitol building.
''I don’t care what hat they wear or what banner they’re carrying, riots should be rejected by everyone every single time.''
The senior senator from Florida, 49-year-old Rubio empathized with Trump supporters who have decried the hypocrisy and double standard of Democrats, especially those who supported and encouraged Black Lives Matter protests over the summer, calling it '''language of the unheard' when rioters were burning cities.''
''This kind of blatant bias and double standard is one of the reasons that so many Americans have sought political shelter in divisive political movements and in conspiracy theories that offer the promise of fighting back against it,'' he said.
''Here is what I want you to hear right now: We can’t allow our anger about all that stuff to turn ourselves into them.''
Rubio quoted from former President Richard Nixon upon his departure from the White House.
''He said, 'Others may hate you, but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself,''' Rubio said. ''We can’t destroy ourselves.''
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