[There was a video here]

In an interview with Megyn Kelly last night, Marco Rubio—who was ostensibly trying to shut down Trump’s call for a Fourth Reich—instead declared that, if we truly want to be safe, America needs to shut down pretty much everything.

To Rubio’s minor credit, he was almost certainly trying to push away from the idea of demonizing mosques specifically. But because Rubio is terrified of (further) alienating himself from conservative voters by calling Trump’s statement what it is (unequivocal and abhorrent racism), Rubio’s words didn’t quite come out that way.

Instead, Rubio makes it sounds like Trump’s call didn’t go far enough.

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. The bigger problem we have is our inability to find out where these places are, because we’ve crippled our intelligence programs, both through unauthorized disclosures by a traitor, in Edward Snowden, or by some of the things this president has put in place with the support even of some from my own party to diminish our intelligence capabilities.

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.

On the bright side, if Rubio gets his way and we do shut down literally anywhere “radicals are being inspired,” Tea Party rallies will finally be a thing of the past.

You can watch Rubio’s interview in full below.

[h/t Talking Points Memo]


Contact the author at ashley@gawker.com.