Marco Rubio and Donald Trump’s history has been messy, to say the very least. Their 2016 Republican Primary election clashes included Rubio making fun of Trump’s small hands and Trump making fun of Rubio’s height. Rubio went mostly quiet about Trump during his term, although his silent endorsement spoke volumes, and that led to people calling out Rubio for saying nothing about Trump’s racist remarks about COVID-19, which led to a great amount of anti-Asian hate and a wave of hate crimes in the U.S. Still, Rubio is apparently being rewarded (if you can call it that) for rolling over with a “coveted” endorsement for Senate reelection (in Florida) from the former president.
Trump (who can no longer tweet) made the proclamation in old-fashioned form with a statement, via The Hill:
“It is my honor to give U.S. Senator Marco Rubio my Complete and Total Endorsement. Marco has been a tireless advocate for the people of Florida, fighting to cut taxes, supporting our Second Amendment, our Military and our Vets, a strong national defense, and all of the forgotten men and women of America.”
If nothing else, this endorsement puts a final end to those rumors (which led Rubio to freeze up on Fox news when quizzed) that Ivanka planned to challenge Rubio for his Senate seat. Her victory would have been a long shot, but it still seemed to make Rubio visibly nervous. The New York Times later reported that Ivanka had rethought the strategy, and now, we’ve got what amounts to a final confirmation with Trump’s endorsement of Rubio. So far, though, Rubio has said absolutely nothing about this endorsement on Twitter, which says a lot.
(Via The Hill)