--- title: Donald Trump and Marco Rubio's Best Schoolyard Insults description: From spray tans to profuse sweating, here are the nastiest schoolyard insults being thrown between Trump and Rubio. canonical: https://time.com/4242827/donald-trump-marco-rubio-insults/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-01T17:33:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:49:33.154Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here Are Trump and Rubio's Best Schoolyard Insults og:description: From small hands to sweating. og:url: https://time.com/4242827/donald-trump-marco-rubio-insults/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcfad4d3b769b001c/69887f3e2dce01f4b49e7f8f/gop-republican-debate-donald-trump-marco-rubio.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL Marco Rubio, Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here Are Trump and Rubio's Best Schoolyard Insults twitter:description: From small hands to sweating. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcfad4d3b769b001c/69887f3e2dce01f4b49e7f8f/gop-republican-debate-donald-trump-marco-rubio.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here Are Trump and Rubio's Best Schoolyard Insults > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ffecef50-7735-4cb9-b66d-8e8f0f877d7a&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch Marco Rubio Sharpen His Attacks on Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Marco Rubio Sharpen His Attacks on Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/R6bgCTi6.m3u8) (1:44)  _Published 2016-02-29. After a relatively genial start, Marco Rubio's attacks against Donald Trump have sharpened, just ahead of Super Tuesday._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 1, 2016 5:33 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 1, 2016 5:33 PM UTC Donald Trump has made a campaign of insult comedy from the beginning; calling people “losers” and “haters” is almost as much a part of his brand as his towers and golf resorts. But lately as the Republican field has winnowed and the race has intensified, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio [has a new plan](http://time.com/4240842/rubio-trump-attack-gop-republican/): stoop to conquer. Try to bully the bully. From spray tans to profuse sweating, here are the nastiest schoolyard insults being tossed between the two men: **On shvitzing** **Trump:** “I have never seen a human being sweat like this man sweats. … It looked like he had just jumped into a swimming pool with his clothes on.” (Trump then [splashed water onstage](http://time.com/4239357/donald-trump-marco-rubio-water-bottle-texas/) yelling, “It’s Rubio!”) **Rubio:** “He was having a meltdown. First he had this little makeup thing, applying like makeup around his mustache because he had one of those sweat mustaches.” **On height** **Trump:** “Little Marco Rubio is just another Washington D.C. politician that is all talk and no action #RobotRubio” (via [Twitter](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/704014599708876800)) **Rubio:** “He’s always calling me Little Marco. And I’ll admit he’s taller than me. He’s like 6’2″, which is why I don’t understand why his hands are the size of someone who is 5’2″. Have you seen his hands? They’re like this. And you know what they say about men with small hands? You can’t trust them.” **On faces** **Trump:** “He has really large ears, the biggest ears I’ve ever seen.” **Rubio:** “Donald is not going to make America great, he’s going to make America orange.” **On education** **Trump:** “The Rubios of the world could not get into that school \[Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, which Trump attended\]. Oy. They don’t have the capacity.” **Rubio:** “How does this guy, not one tweet, but three tweets, misspell words so badly? And I only come to two conclusions. Number one, that’s how they spell those words at the Wharton School of Business, where he went, and number two, just like Trump Tower, he must have hired a foreign worker to do his own tweets.” **On everything else** **Rubio on Trump’s debate nerves:** “He wanted a full-length mirror. Maybe to make sure his pants weren’t wet.” **Rubio on Trump’s signature hairdo:** “He’s flying around on Hair Force One.” ## Transcript He doesn't sweat cuz his pores are clogged from the spray tan that he uses. Donald is not gonna make America great, he's gonna make America orange. [ MUSIC ] When on the campaign, he has not proven an understanding of these issues or the preparation necessary to be the Commander in Chief. Well, obviously I don't agree with everything he says but we can't ignore that he's touched on some issues that people are concerned about. I like everybody on this stage. No one is a socialist. No one here is under FBI investigation. So we are a good group of people. To begin by being clear what this campaign is about, it's not about Donald Trump. He's an entertaining guy. He's the greatest show on Earth. We disagree on that. [ MUSIC ] That okay? Yeah. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea. You don't have a record there to look at and say I feel at peace. That when Donald Trump is president of the United States, he's gonna be firmly on our side on these issues. If he builds the wall the way he built Trump Towers, he'll be using illegal immigrant labor to do it. I don't understand cuz your ties and the clothes you make is made in Mexico and in China. So you're gonna be starting a trade war against your own ties and your own suit. [ APPLAUSE ] If he hadn't inherited $ 200 million, do you know where Donald Trump would be right now? No, no, no, no. Selling watches in Manhattan. I borrowed- A con artist is about to take over the Republican party and the conservative movement. We are not gonna turn over the conservative movement To a con artist. Then he asked for a full length mirror. I don't know why because the podium goes up to here. Maybe to make sure his pants weren't wet, I don't know. You don't want to criticize other republicans, you said that over and over again but was it the strategy to wait till the last minute so it's fresh in the minds of voters on Tuesday? No, that was when the debate is. And number two, as he reminds everybody over and over he's doing well in the polls. So I admit I'm an underdog. I ask people to join my effort so we can put a stop to this lunacy. 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