The standard narrative of the GOP race is that you have the outsider extremists, like Donald Trump and Ben Carson, who are regrettably taking attention away from the sophisticated professional politicians who are offering a more moderate brand of Republicanism, like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. But what happens when the professional politicians put forward proposals that are more extreme than those of the alleged extremists?
Trump has been rightly criticized for calling for mosques to be closed down and for a national database for Muslim Americans. But Rubio, speaking on Fox News, went even further: “It’s not about closing down mosques. It’s about closing down any place—whether it’s a cafe, a diner, an internet site—any place where radicals are being inspired. ... So whatever facility is being used—it’s not just a mosque—any facility that’s being used to radicalize and inspire attacks against the United States, should be a place that we look at.”
It’s hard to imagine Rubio’s plans working without an Orwellian system monitoring Muslim Americans 24/7. It turns out he’s not a moderate at all, even when compared to Donald Trump.