“I certainly think it would fracture it”, Rubio said of a Trump nomination on CBS’s “This Morning”.
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Donald Trump is steaming toward the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, scattering in his wake the campaign wreckage of the GOP establishment’s once-celebrated paladins, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Marco Rubio – and perhaps the GOP itself. The Ohio Governor, who has sought to appeal to frustrated voters by floating above the intraparty bickering, he spent much of the evening outlining his record in the Buckeye State, where he hopes a victory March 15 will serve as a springboard to a comeback. “I thought it was very substantive”, he told CNN afterwards.
Last week the Republicans’ last two presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, denounced Trump.
Nothing better demonstrates this depressing acquiescence than the failure of Ted Cruz, John Kasich, and Marco Rubio to forthrightly and unequivocally condemn the violence and assaults against protesters at Trump rallies-thuggery Trump’s own nasty rhetoric encourages-when directly asked to do so.
Trump’s message to the voters: Kasich is a loser, so why would you want to vote for him?
As ever, Trump pushed back when others pushed him, but without the ferocity seen in earlier debates.
Rubio’s campaign, which was already struggling to take off, took a nose dive recently after he launched a wave of nasty personal attacks against Trump, including mocking his “small hands” and implying that another body part might be small. In other words, Rubio throwing in the towel is the price Cruz demanded for giving the Floridian a chance to redeem himself in his home state.
But there were just as many moments where the candidates let Trump slide, including on his acknowledgement that he’s exploited immigration laws to bring skilled overseas workers to the U.S.to work for his companies and on his call for sending up to 30,000 US ground troops to the Middle East to fight the Islamic State. When it was over, Trump suggested to reporters backstage that it was time to stop the debates.
“The Republican women had looked at trying to do the delegates by congressional district, and we were just told there wasn’t even a starter on that conversation”, said Cynthia Henderson, the group’s past president. He declined to offer specifics.
Trump didn’t explain why he took offense at Ryan’s stating a would-be presidential candidate shouldn’t be accepting endorsements from racists.
“It was really a nice way to finish off the debate season”, Trump said of the Miami debate.
“I don’t know where Cuba is going to sue, but if they sue us in a court in Miami, they’re going to lose”, he said to laughter and applause. “I mean, how many times do you have to give the same answer to the same question?”
Carson, who has a winter home in nearby West Palm Beach, visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday morning for breakfast.
Rubio also defended American Muslims as patriots. “We don’t want to get sued after the deal is made”, he said, arguing for a good deal to be reached.
After watching his three rivals opine about their paths to the nomination, delegate math and the prospect of a contested convention, he didn’t even bother explaining how he could win.
Texas senator Ted Cruz, who has the second-most delegates, has attacked Trump as too rash and volatile to lead the country.
Unlike conservatives of the past, who could take the Cuban-American vote in Florida for granted if they aggressively criticized the Castro government in Cuba, candidates are dealing with a new generation that is leaning more heavily to the Democratic Party.
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Among Rubio’s challenges in besting Trump, however, could be drawing in younger generations of Florida’s Hispanics. By the end, the candidate who once refused to participate in a GOP debate was offering nothing but praise for all involved.
