Marco Rubio Claims Biden’s “Neanderthal” Comment Is “Hurtful” To Europeans And Americans

Photo via Gage Skidmore/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0), Bacon Cph/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)

March 4, 2021, 2:48 pm

Senator Marco Rubio seemed to post a “joke” on Twitter after Joe Biden called the decisions by the Texas and Mississippi governors to end mask mandates and social distancing rules in their states “Neanderthal thinking.”

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He is among several Republicans acting outraged because it’s been theorized that many of today’s humans have a small amount of Neanderthal DNA, even though a lot of them don’t believe in evolution.

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Rubio even included the fact that this DNA only amounts to about two percent of anyone’s total genetic makeup in what he probably thinks is a hilarious “gotcha.”

President Biden’s use of an old stereotype is hurtful to modern Europeans, Asians & Americans who inherit about 2% of their genes from Neanderthal ancestors. https://t.co/aXHJV5wLlr

He should apologize for his insensitive comments and seek training on unconscious bias.

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 4, 2021

While we could all use more training on unconscious bias, this is clearly a dig at Democrats who have called for this kind of thing when Republicans have said offensive things about groups of humans who still exist. For example, when Rep. Steve King asked why the term “white supremacist” is considered offensive, or when Donald Trump bragged about grabbing women “by the p—y.”

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Or when Marco Rubio said that “you have to really have a ridiculous and absurd reading of the U.S. Constitution to reach the conclusion that people have a right to marry someone of the same sex.” Lumping in billions of people into one category he calls “Asians” isn’t considered to be great these days, either, not to mention making them distinct from “Americans.”

While he hasn’t outright denied the science of evolution, Rubio did refuse to acknowledge its validity in a 2012 interview, instead calling it “one of the great mysteries” of life in defense of teaching creationism in schools.

“I’m not a scientist, man,” he said. “I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States.”

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Based on today tweet, we can confidently say that Rubio is still not a scientist, man. And judging by the comments, he wouldn’t make much of a comedian, either.

You so unbelievably bad at this. I’m honestly amazed.

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) March 4, 2021

Psst: you’ll never win a GOP primary if you believe in evolution.

— Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) March 4, 2021

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This is a prime example of why we can’t expect Republicans to negotiate in good faith.

— Ely (@scashex) March 4, 2021

This is a parody right? And we aren’t even talking about the tweet. We are talking about the person who sent it.

— Retire Rubio (@RetireMarco) March 4, 2021

He’s trying to be clever. It’s not working.

— Mr. Wednesday (@MrWednesday11) March 4, 2021

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*First Published: March 4, 2021, 2:48 pm