Marco Rubio wastes no time in going on foreign policy offensive back in Iowa

Rubio warned potential voters of the threats the United States faces, saying: ‘Iran is probably going to have a [nuclear] weapon at some point.’ Photograph: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock

Less than 12 hours after the end of the last Republican debate of 2015, Marco Rubio was back on the campaign trail in a hotel ballroom in Ankeny, Iowa.

Rubio, who has devoted a disproportionate amount of time to campaigning in this prosperous suburb, gave a relatively short, breezy version of his stump speech where he seamlessly incorporated his opening statement from last night’s debate and then spent just as long working the rope line, taking selfies and shaking hands with the crowd of about 100 who filled the room.

The Florida senator, who has emerged as an establishment favorite in recent months, focused on his hawkish foreign policy world view during his brief speech. He referred to the two perpetrators of the San Bernardino terrorist attack as “animals” and took shots at NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, whom he called a traitor. “It is unfathomable to me that there are people running for president who think he did a great public service to America,” said Rubio.

Rubio didn’t mention any of his rivals by name although he obliquely referenced Texas senator Ted Cruz, with whom he repeatedly sparred in Tuesday’s debate. He derides those Republican rivals who talked tough without adequately supporting the military, a clear reference to Cruz, who his campaign has repeatedly attacked for voting against the Defense Authorization Act.

“Everyone on that stage talks tough,” said Rubio. “I can stand here and say we are going to utterly destroy Isis, we are going to blow them up, we are going to make the sand glow, but what are you going to do it with?” Previously, Cruz has pledged to “carpet bomb Isis into oblivion,” adding: “I don’t know if sand can glow in the dark, but we’re going to find out.”

Afterward Rubio worked the rope line, chatting with voters and trying to move quickly to avoid knotty policies. When one voter pressed him on nuclear disarmament, Rubio warned of the threats that the United States faces: “Iran is probably going to have a [nuclear] weapon at some point.”

Dave Niffenegger, a veteran who likes Rubio, thought the Florida senator’s comments on foreign policy were spot-on. He appreciated how Rubio thought it was important to have “our friends and neighbors engage in the Middle East” and his cautious approach toward committing ground troops.

But not everyone in the crowd shared Rubio’s foreign policy approach. Dennis Dietz of Polk City, a registered Democrat, told the Guardian: “I switched out of the Republican party because of this kind of fear-mongering.” A self-described “Bob Dole kind of person”, Dietz was disappointed with Rubio’s hawkish rhetoric. “They are all saying that fear stuff and trying to use it for their own benefit. But I’m not as fearful as them.”