Sen. Marco Rubio Says He Has Hope for Trump While Dissing Nick Fuentes
The Florida senator reacted to Trump's dinner meeting with the white nationalist, joining a small but growing chorus of Republicans speaking out.

Saul Martinez/Getty Images
A small but increasing number of GOP senators are criticizing Donald Trump for his dinner meeting last week with rapper Kanye ‘Ye’ West and the white nationalist Nick Fuentes. While former Trump aides Steve Bannon and Mike Pence already criticized the former president, others on Monday came out of the shadows, including Senate Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) who told reporters that the dinner was “just a bad idea on every level,” per The Huffington Post. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), chief of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, told reporters that “there’s no room in the Republican Party for white supremacists and antisemitism, so it’s wrong.” Trump’s one-time V.P. Mike Pence also joined the chorus, telling NewsNation in an interview Monday that “President Trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, an antisemite and a Holocaust denier a seat at the table. And I think he should apologize for it.” Though many Republicans declined to comment on the meeting, which saw ‘Ye’ bring Fuentes to Mar-a-Lago as a guest to meet with the former president, perhaps the boldest comments came from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who said he hopes to see the former president condemn Fuentes, “because I know [Trump’s] not an antisemite. I can tell you that for a fact that Trump is not but this guy [Fuentes] is evil. And that guy’s just a nasty, disgusting person. He’s an ass clown.” Trump commented on Truth Social after the backlash that he didn’t know who Fuentes was and that the dinner “was intended to be Kanye and me only.”
Unlock a year of full access to The Looker and The Daily Beast for $35.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Looker and The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.
Sign in
Login dialog