--- title: GOP Debate: Rubio Defends Michigan Gov. on Water Crisis description: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio came to the defense of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's handling of the Flint water crisis canonical: https://time.com/4247414/rubio-defends-michigan-governor-flint-water-crisis-republican-debate/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-04T04:14:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:50:33.659Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rubio Defends Michigan Governor Over Flint Water Crisis og:description: Republicans talked Flint while a large protest occurred outside of the debate. og:url: https://time.com/4247414/rubio-defends-michigan-governor-flint-water-crisis-republican-debate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt395fe3aeee886385/69888039cd1bba8bb76ffb31/timpeol-gop-republican-debate-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3767 og:image:height: 2119 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Megyn Kelly og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rubio Defends Michigan Governor Over Flint Water Crisis twitter:description: Republicans talked Flint while a large protest occurred outside of the debate. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt395fe3aeee886385/69888039cd1bba8bb76ffb31/timpeol-gop-republican-debate-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rubio Defends Michigan Governor Over Flint Water Crisis at Republican Debate > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=0e113db8-501a-4c56-9ead-0874a0d16d8e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch the Eleventh Republican Debate In Less Than Three Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch the Eleventh Republican Debate In Less Than Three Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/oLxJkDU8.m3u8) (2:49)  _Published 2016-03-04_ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Mar 4, 2016 4:14 AM UTC by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Mar 4, 2016 4:14 AM UTC Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio came to the defense of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s handling of the Flint water crisis during [Thursday’s Republican debate](http://time.com/4247275/donald-trump-mitt-romney-john-mccain/?6). When asked a question about an apparent lack of Republican response to Flint, [a city in the midst of a crisis over it’s lead-poisoned water supply](http://time.com/4246098/fallout-from-flints-water-crisis/), Rubio offered Gov. Snyder praise for his response. “The politicizing of it, I think, is unfair, because I don’t think someone woke up one morning and said “let’s figure out how to poison the water system to hurt someone, but accountability is important,” Rubio said. “I will say I give the Governor credit. He took responsibility for what happened and he’s talked about people being held accountable and the need to change.” Gov. Snyder [has faced criticism over his handling of the issue](http://time.com/4213726/flint-officials-must-pay/), but Rubio focussed on calling for a collective response to the water crisis and planning for the future. “All of us are outraged about what happened and we should work together to solve it,” Rubio said. “There is a proper role for the government to play at the federal level in helping local communities to respond to tragedies of this kind, not just to deal with the people that have been impacted by it but to ensure that something like this never happens again.” Thursday’s debate was held in Detroit—some 70 miles from Flint—in the midst of a [large protest outside the Fox Theatre](http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/03/03/hundreds-protest-outside-gop-debate-fox-theatre/81292418/). Demonstrators braved the snow, urging greater protections for the environment, improvements to Flint’s water system, respect for social and racial justice, and better wages for low-wage workers. ## Transcript [ APPLAUSE ] Mr. Trump, hi. Hello. How you doing? Nice to be with you Megan. Great to have you here. [ LAUGH ] You're looking well. You're looking well. How are you? [ LAUGH ] This campaign, for the last year, Donald Trump has basically mocked everybody with personal attacks. He's done so to people that are sitting on the stage today. [ APPLAUSE ] He's done so about people that are disabled. He's done it about every other candidate in this race. So if there's anyone who ever deserved to be attacked that way, it's been Donald Trump. He referred to my hands. If they're small, something else must be small. I guarantee you, there's no problem. I guarantee you. And I don't think the people of America are interested in a bunch of bickering school children. They're interested in solutions, not slogans. [ CROSSTALK ] I think I'm talking. This little guy has lied. So much- Here we go! About my record. Here we go! The personal- You asked him about the economy, and the first thing he does is launch an attack about some little guy thing. You haven't employed one person. You ever heard of Trump Steaks? You ever heard of Trump Vodka? Yeah, you know what? All these companies that he's ruined! Take a look at Trump Steaks- People say everywhere I go You seem to be the adult on the stage. You're not going to stop the corruption and the cronyism by someone who has used government power for private gain. we are talking about waterboarding. I said it's fine. And if we want to go stronger, I'd go stronger too. Because frankly that's the way I feel. Yeah. [ APPLAUSE ] Time and time again in this campaign You've actually told the voters one thing only to reverse yourself within weeks of even sometimes days. I was always against going into Iraq. In fact, believe me I was always against. The most important election in the generation And he's trying to con people into giving them their vote, just like he conned these people into giving them their money. It's a minor civil case. Donald, learn not to interrupt. It's not complicated. Count to ten, Donald. Count to ten. Give me a break. Count to ten. You have yet to answer a single serious question about any of this. Will you give us a detailed answer about foreign policy any time you're asked on it? [ INAUDIBLE ] Putin said very nice things about me, and I say very nicely, wouldn't it be nice if actually we could get along with Russia. The question is do you think that Donald Trump is naive About the threat that Vladimir Putin represents. I'm not biting. In Russia, we need to tell them we're gonna arm the Ukrainians with defensive lethal weapons. Not what you said in the op ed. That is not what you said in the op ed. Donald, please, I know it's hard not to interrupt, but try. Breathe, breathe, breathe. [ LAUGH ] You can do it. Breathe. I know it's hard. I know it's hard but just- When they're done with the yoga can I answer a question? You cannot. I really hope that we don't see yoga on this stage. Well he's very flexible so you never know. Let me just ask the voters at home, is this debate you want playing out in the general election? ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4247414/rubio-defends-michigan-governor-flint-water-crisis-republican-debate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4247414/rubio-defends-michigan-governor-flint-water-crisis-republican-debate/"},"headline":"Rubio Defends Michigan Governor Over Flint Water Crisis at Republican Debate","datePublished":"2016-03-04T04:14:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:50:33.659Z","description":"Rubio defended the governor as protesters gathered outside of the debate","url":"https://time.com/4247414/rubio-defends-michigan-governor-flint-water-crisis-republican-debate/","keywords":["Debates","republicans","2016 Election","Michigan","Flint","Flint Water Crisis"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt395fe3aeee886385/69888039cd1bba8bb76ffb31/timpeol-gop-republican-debate-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt395fe3aeee886385/69888039cd1bba8bb76ffb31/timpeol-gop-republican-debate-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIMEPOL Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Megyn Kelly","caption":"Protestors rally near the site of the Republican presidential debate on March 3 in Detroit.","creditText":"Jim West—Zuma","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4247414/rubio-defends-michigan-governor-flint-water-crisis-republican-debate/","name":"Rubio Defends Michigan Governor Over Flint Water Crisis at Republican Debate"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch the Eleventh Republican Debate In Less Than Three Minutes","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/oLxJkDU8/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-03-04T05:06:40.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/oLxJkDU8.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4247414/rubio-defends-michigan-governor-flint-water-crisis-republican-debate/","duration":"PT2M49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4247414/rubio-defends-michigan-governor-flint-water-crisis-republican-debate/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```