CHUCK TODD (HOST): You just said that you thought the president's speech made it worse. If you were president in a moment like that, what would you have done? What would you have said to the country?
MARCO RUBIO: Well, first I would have acknowledged why people are concerned and I would acknowledge that we are --
TODD: He acknowledged it.
RUBIO: But beyond just acknowledging it in the way he did. I would have honestly said, look, I know people that are -- I personally know people that have told me they're not taking trip this New Years because they're afraid of what they're reading in the press, people that have always taken a trip at the end of the year. So this -- perhaps it's anecdotal, but I think it's happening. But then I would have ended by saying, but we can defeat them. What we're doing now is not enough, here's what we are going to do in addition to it. And I honestly believe that yes, we need more air strikes, you can't just defeat them from the air. You must do two additional things that we are not doing now. Number one is put together a global coalition on the ground made up primarily of Arab Sunnis. Obviously, we'll work with the Kurds in the Kurdish areas and even with Christians to protect their cities and their families. But ISIS needs to be defeated on the ground and rejected ideologically by Sunni Arabs themselves. It will require embedding alongside them, special operators from the U.S. and other international partners. And the second is, we need to start cross-messaging these people, counter-messaging them. You know, propaganda has always played a role in every war, in every conflict. And this is critical here because ISIS is portraying themselves as this extraordinary caliphate, that life is glorious under ISIS rule. Nothing could be further from the truth. And so we need to invest more time, for example, explaining to people what happens to non-Iraqis that join ISIS. They're treated as cannon fodder.
TODD: Everything you just outlined, though, the administration would argue they're -- that's all part of their strategy. Sounds like you basically agree with the president's strategy, you might just implement some parts of it differently.
RUBIO: I don't agree that's part of their strategy. Maybe rhetorically some of it is but most of it is not.
[...]
RUBIO: Well, absolutely but it would require us to work with Muslim communities around the world that are not Islamists to counter-messages to young people, to counter-message to them about why this is not true Islam as these Muslim leaders argue and, in fact, what life under ISIS control is like. Much more widespread than what we're doing now. And on the ground I do not believe that the president is doing what I'm outlining.
