Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is being harshly criticized for repeatedly using the same line that President Obama “knows exactly what he is doing” during ABC News' February 6 Republican presidential debate. A CNN commentator noted that line is “gospel, when you listen to conservative talk radio,” and echoes a talking point former Fox News host Glenn Beck frequently used.

Four times during the debate, Rubio said that contrary to the claims of those who portray him as incompetent, Obama “knows exactly what he is doing,” explaining at one point: “He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare, and the stimulus, and Dodd-Frank, and the deal with Iran, it is a systematic effort to change America.” After one iteration, Gov. Chris Christie called Rubio out for using a “memorized 25-second speech” tailored by political advisers.

Following the debate, CNN commentators savaged Rubio's performance, calling it “damaging,” “somewhat bizarre,” and “hard to watch.” But Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord pointed out that Rubio's comments were “gospel, if you listen to conservative talk radio” because “there are plenty of people out there in the base who really do think he wants to change the country in a direction they don't want to see it go.”

Indeed, as Media Matters Executive Vice President Angelo Carusone pointed out, Rubio's comments echo Glenn Beck's oft-repeated claim that President Obama was engaged in the “fundamental transformation of America,” deliberately trying to damage the country so he could “chang[e] America into something other than it always has been.”