(CNN) Have you heard the latest?

A President walks out onto the White House lawn and says that China should investigate the Bidens because "what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine."

Ba-da-boom.

That's the punchline, at least according to Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. It was a joke. And we just don't get it. "I don't think it's a real request," Rubio said. "I think he did it to get you guys. I think he did it to provoke you to ask me and others and get outraged by it. He plays it like a violin and everyone falls into it. That's not a real request."

Sure looked real -- and it wasn't really funny. But that didn't stop other Republicans from breathing a sigh of relief at the fabrication of a new talking point.

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