--- title: Marco Rubio Grows Emotional About Donald Trump's Rise description: "This is a frightening, grotesque and disturbing development in American politics." canonical: https://time.com/4257108/marco-rubio-florida-donald-trump/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-14T02:01:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:49:42.139Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rubio Grows Emotional About Trump's Rise og:description: As he faces prospect of defeat in home state of Florida. og:url: https://time.com/4257108/marco-rubio-florida-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08204391672b5171/69888ad40a4a2268eb9c8cb2/marco-rubio-florida-gop-primary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Presidential Candidate Marco Rubio Campaigns In Florida og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rubio Grows Emotional About Trump's Rise twitter:description: As he faces prospect of defeat in home state of Florida. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08204391672b5171/69888ad40a4a2268eb9c8cb2/marco-rubio-florida-gop-primary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rubio Grows Emotional About Trump as He Faces Prospect of Defeat > 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=8bc434a1-2a56-4816-b7b6-d1040fa70601&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Why It's So Hard to Attack Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Why It's So Hard to Attack Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/X3BpgQ9x.m3u8) (3:13)  _Published 2016-03-02. Now, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are attempting to beat him at his own game—but will any attacks against Trump actually stick?_ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Mar 14, 2016 2:01 AM UTC by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Mar 14, 2016 2:01 AM UTC Florida Senator Marco Rubio built his presidential campaign around an optimistic vision of uplift, both for the Republican Party and the nation. But when he spoke to reporters Saturday, with polls showing him trailing in his home state and the nation’s television screens showing violence at a Donald Trump rally, he appeared deflated and despondent. “This is a frightening, grotesque and disturbing development in American politics,” Rubio said of the violence. “We are being ripped apart at the seams now,” he continued. “I’m sad for this country. This is supposed to be the example to the world of how a republic functions and instead people are watching third-world images last night coming out of Chicago.” Asked if he would support Trump if, as many now expect, he becomes the Republican nominee, Rubio appeared to become even more emotional. “I still at this moment continue to intend to support the Republican nominee,” he said, shaking his head. “But — getting harder every day.” It’s been a head-spinning month and a half for Rubio and his campaign, with what passed for success in Iowa followed by an excruciating debate performance in New Hampshire. After appearing to regain his standing in South Carolina, his momentum evaporated in contest after contest in the two weeks afterward. After avoiding Trump for the better part of a year, he questioned the front runner’s manhood, only to abruptly reverse course. At Thursday’s Republican debate he declined to directly condemn the violence against protesters at Trump’s rallies. Then he did just that after the violence in Chicago. With his campaign facing what is at best an existential test and potentially a useless endeavor in Florida, Rubio said he can’t think beyond Tuesday’s winner-take-all contest. “I literally don’t even know what I’m having for lunch or dinner today,” the candidate said. “I don’t even know my schedule today. I just go where they take me today … I intend to win Florida.” But increasingly that seems to be out of reach, as he trails in poll after poll — often by double-digit margins. At Thursday’s debate, Rubio’s campaign said he sought to return his campaign to its lofty rhetorical origins in hopes of securing another come-from-behind victory. But there was another unstated reason — if Rubio was going to lose, it was going to be as the optimistic candidate he had been, not the insult-firing candidate he’d become. “We are now a nation where people hate each other,” he said [Sunday at a campaign](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8kToC28rAg) event. “If we continue at the road we’re on, we’re going to fracture at the seams.” In Miami, Rubio told the story of an older gentleman from South Florida who sits outside a polling place every day holding a sign supporting him. “For him, I symbolize all the sacrifices that his generation made so their children could have a better life than themselves,” Rubio said. “That gentleman has not given up on me and I am not going to give up on him.” “For tonight, we wanted to bring this back to why is Marco running for President, to remind voters here in Florida why they elected him in 2010, and I think we accomplished that,” Rubio communications director Alex Conant said after the debate. It seemed as though Rubio’s plan was more finite. “If you are a Republican primary voter in Ohio and you want to defeat Donald Trump, your best chance in Ohio is John Kasich,” Conant told CNN Friday, a sentiment Rubio also echoed to reporters. The sentiment is consistent with the strategy offered by former GOP nominee Mitt Romney to deprive Trump of delegates to keep him from the nomination at all cost. The most recent RealClearPolitics average of Florida public polls shows Rubio 18 points behind Trump in his home state, a huge margin to make up if accurate, given the amount of early voting in the state. If Rubio loses Florida but Kasich wins Ohio, hope will remain that Trump can be stopped at the Republican convention in Cleveland. The reasons for Rubio’s struggles are myriad, some with and others outside of his control. A candidate for whom message became an organizing principle, lost control of his public image. A campaign centered on friendly television appearances, never built up a robust ground game and was unprepared for the rise of a candidate who dominated the news conversation. The baby-faced candidate chose to dive into the mud with Trump and did lasting damage to his call for mature decisionmaking. Rubio positioned himself as a candidate who could unite all corners of the GOP and lead the party to a new, more inclusive era. He planned to campaign in the Republican Party elders had called for after its 2012 losses, one that never materialized. Instead, Rubio’s elevated call for a “New American Century” was subsumed by the baser instincts of the GOP base. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Everybody knows what they're getting in Donald Trump. You've seen him on TV and interviews, so it's hard to attack him like you would a conventional politician because everybody has heard of him already. And it's pretty hard to reset that with a single jibe. [ MUSIC ] Over the next couple of weeks we're going to see all of these candidates and outsiders launching massive last ditch effort to stop Donald Trump, before the March 15th winner take all primary's. It' really too soon to tell if this will work, but ultimately It's now or never. When Donald Trump first started running a lot of the other candidates didn't really take him seriously, and so they didn't bother attacking him. They were much more concerned with fighting each other for the particular spot, whether it be the establishment or the conservative spot. There it is, the memorized twenty five second speech. Donald Trump is the master of insults and it's hard to beat him at his own game. When Mexico sends it's people. They're bringing drugs. Their rapists and some I assume are good people. And he has a particular gift at figuring out what is the thing that is going to most bother you. Low energy individual. So if you are going up against Trump they have to figure out. How to insult him in an equally devastating way and I don't know that the attacks that we've heard so far are actually going to work. Let me ask for a full length mirror. Maybe to make sure his pants weren't wet. I don't know. Then He's not a politician so there's not a record of votes that he took or bills that he sponsored or actions that he took. So a lot of that just becomes like well, yeah, I said that one time and now I'm saying this. And so people don't mind. Would never do that. [ LAUGH ] Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have spoken up a lot more directly going after him. He's not faced some of these attacks. So some of them we just don't know whether they will work or not. Or it's possible that they may work but they could turn out to be more useful to Democrats down the road. I think you already see Clinton's campaign portraying Trump as the divider and Hillary is the Uniter . >> America never stopped being great we have to make America whole. I was told by the campaign that they felt that the republican field had tried to define Trump a little too late and if they would not make the same mistake I don't think you're going to see Hillary herself attacking Trump. I think you're gonna see Bill Clinton and her surrogate certainly, attacking Trump. She wants to remain a very positive messenger. Almost in a Ronald Reagan kind of sense, the optimism of morning in America. Today is more love and kindness. Whereas, they would portray Donald Trump as night in America. The thing though is that Trump is wining the Republican primaries based largely off of white support and when it comes to general election, given all the constituencies that he's offended, will he still have the same power. Will he still be able to win, and will any of these attacks start to stick? And I think the Clinton campaign is betting on that they will. 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