Marco Rubio Bristles During Tense ABC Interview With Stephanopoulos — Claims Trump Would Be in Line for the Nobel Peace Prize if He Were a Democrat

Secretary of State Marco Rubio bristled at questions from ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Sunday about President Donald Trump’s treatment of Ukraine and its leader, Volodymyr Zelensky.

In a tense interview on ABC’s This Week, Stephanopoulos confronted Rubio about Trump’s rhetoric on Zelensky being much more pointed than his rhetoric towards Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

“Why is it OK to call President Zelensky a dictator, but not, as you say, call Vladimir Putin names?” Stephanopoulos said.

“Listen, we’ve spent three years calling Vladimir Putin names,” Rubio replied. “That’s not the point. And the point that we’re at now is, we’re trying to get the man to a table, the Russians. And I’ve said from the very beginning, maybe they don’t want a deal either. We don’t know. But we haven’t talked to them in three years. But maybe they do.

“The point is, do we want to make – I would ask everybody this. If there are no negotiations, what is the alternative? Another four years of war? Another three years of war in which the United States and Europe continues to pour billions of dollars into a war in Ukraine? Is that the alternative?”

Stephanopoulos, though, argued that there’s more to brokering a peace deal than simply getting both sides to the table.

“It’s [also] about keeping agreements that are made,” Stephanopoulos said. “And that was one of the points that President Zelenskyy was making in the Oval Office on Friday, is that Vladimir Putin has not kept the agreements that were made in the past. Wasn’t he right about that?”

“Moving forward is the question, not the past,” Rubio said. “No one here is claiming Vladimir Putin is going to [win] the Nobel Peace Prize this year, or that he should be the man of the year of the Humanitarian Association. What we’re arguing here is, he has a very large country. They’re in full-war footing. They’re cranking out weapons now at a war-footing pace, and we need to figure out, is there way to get them to stop the war? And the only way you’re going to do that is to get Russians engaged in negotiations, something the Europeans haven’t been able to do, the Biden administration wasn’t able to do or didn’t even try. That’s the goal here. It’s that simple.”

Rubio went on to attack what he believes is unfair criticism of Trump.

“I really am puzzled why anyone thinks that trying to be a peacemaker is a bad thing,” Rubio said. :It’s only a bad thing when it’s Donald Trump trying to do it, when it’s President Trump. It’s absurd to me.”

“Well, even some of your Republican allies are puzzled by the steps President Trump has taken to placate Vladimir Putin,” Stephanopoulos replied.

“What steps has the president taken to placate? What steps has he taken?” Rubio said.

“Let me show you what [Republican Senator] Lisa Murkowski said – and you respond to that,” Stephanopoulos shot back.

Rubio charged ahead.

“Are we arming the Russians?” Rubio said. “Are we providing economic assistance to the Russians? Are we giving the Russians $180 billion? What are we doing to placate?”

“Please let me ask you the question,” Stephanopoulos said.

The ABC host went on to quote Senator Murkowski saying, “This week started with administration officials refusing to acknowledge that Russia started the war in Ukraine. It ends with a tense and shocking conversation in the Oval Office and whispers from the White House that they may try to end all U.S. support for Ukraine. I know foreign policy is not for the faint of heart, but right now, I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and U.S. values around the world.”

Rubio responded by saying, “We’re a free country. People have a right to these opinions. I would just say to you, what have we done to placate the Russians? The only thing we’ve done is say, are you guys willing to talk about peace? I say the same point. We’re not giving [Russia] — we haven’t given $180 billion and weapons. We haven’t given them an Oval Office meeting.”

The Secretary of State added: “Shouldn’t we all be happy that we have a president who’s trying to stop wars and prevent them instead of start them? And I just don’t get it. I really don’t, other than the fact that it’s Donald J. Trump. If this was a Democrat that was doing this, everyone would be saying, well, he’s on his way to the Nobel Peace Prize.”

Watch above, via ABC.