--- title: President Obama Blasts Donald Trump, Marco Rubio in Miami description: President Obama lambasted Marco Rubio on his home turf on Thursday, slamming the Senator who ran against Donald Trump in the primary canonical: https://time.com/4539494/president-obama-marco-rubio-donald-trump-florida/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-20T21:18:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T01:38:44.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Blasts Marco Rubio and GOPers for Supporting Donald Trump og:description: "Come on, man!" og:url: https://time.com/4539494/president-obama-marco-rubio-donald-trump-florida/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab21134f752bbb57/6988aaef0b72e3aac26eb722/obama4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4666 og:image:height: 2625 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Blasts Marco Rubio and GOPers for Supporting Donald Trump twitter:description: "Come on, man!" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab21134f752bbb57/6988aaef0b72e3aac26eb722/obama4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Blasts Marco Rubio and GOPers for Supporting Donald Trump: 'Come On, Man!' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 15, 2023 1:38 AM UTCPublished: Oct 20, 2016 9:18 PM UTC  President Obama speaks at Miami Dade College in Miami, on Oct. 20, 2016. President Obama speaks at Miami Dade College in Miami, on Oct. 20, 2016.Susan Walsh—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 15, 2023 1:38 AM UTCPublished: Oct 20, 2016 9:18 PM UTC [President Obama](http://time.com/4535267/barack-obama-donald-trump-rigged-election-renzi/) lambasted Marco Rubio on his home turf on Thursday, slamming the Senator who ran against Donald Trump in the primary, yet later endorsed his controversial candidacy. “Donald Trump wants to reverse progress,” Obama told the crowd at Florida Memorial University. “Marco Rubio wants to help him.” Obama refused to give Republicans a great deal of credit for denouncing some of Trump’s nastier controversies, including a leaked tape on which [he can be heard bragging about groping women](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/marco-rubio-trump-endorsement%5Fus%5F57fd34e5e4b07d0498ad0199). He instead said their reactions were too little, too late, going so far as to call Rubio’s actions the “height of cynicism” and proof that he would say or do anything to get elected. “How can you call him a con artist and dangerous and object to all the controversial things he says, and then say, ‘I’m still going to vote for him’?” Obama said. “Come on, man!” Obama repeatedly called Rubio a bad choice for the Floridians in the audience, urging them instead to vote for his opponent, Representative Patrick Murphy, whom he praised as a good leader. Rubio’s team slammed Murphy in a statement: “Patrick Murphy has accomplished nothing during his four years in Congress — even the President couldn’t think of anything nice to say about him,” Olivia Perez-Cubas, Rubio’s press secretary, said. Obama also offered a public response to Trump’s statements that he would only accept the results of the election if he were to win on Nov. 8\. Suggestions that the vote would be somehow rigged, he said, are not only whining but also dangerous for the country. “That is not a joking matter. That is dangerous. When you try to sow the seeds of doubt in people’s minds about the legitimacy of our elections, that undermines our democracy,” Obama said. Obama was in Florida to deliver a speech on the [Affordable Care Act](http://time.com/4539092/president-obama-obamacare-miami-dade-college-florida/), and afterward he stopped by Florida Memorial University for the rowdy speech. The President had been scheduled to attend a rally for Clinton in Florida earlier this month, but it was rescheduled due to Hurricane Matthew. The President, who already voted early in Illinois, urged early voting in the Sunshine State where a 2013 report found long lines[ discouraged some 200,000 people from casting ballots](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/florida-voting-lines-report%5Fn%5F2544373.html). “When you vote early, there are no lines,” he said. “You can take your time.” “Starting Monday you can reject somebody who proves himself unfit to be President every single day in every single way,” Obama said, urging the crowd to vote early in the battleground state. “You don’t need to wait until Nov. 8 to send Hillary to the White House.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4539494/president-obama-marco-rubio-donald-trump-florida/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4539494/president-obama-marco-rubio-donald-trump-florida/"},"headline":"President Obama Blasts Marco Rubio and GOPers for Supporting Donald Trump: 'Come On, Man!'","datePublished":"2016-10-20T21:18:47.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T01:38:44.000Z","description":"\"Donald Trump wants to reverse progress; Marco Rubio wants to help him\"","url":"https://time.com/4539494/president-obama-marco-rubio-donald-trump-florida/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Barack Obama","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab21134f752bbb57/6988aaef0b72e3aac26eb722/obama4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab21134f752bbb57/6988aaef0b72e3aac26eb722/obama4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama","caption":"Barack Obama","creditText":"Susan Walsh—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4539494/president-obama-marco-rubio-donald-trump-florida/","name":"President Obama Blasts Marco Rubio and GOPers for Supporting Donald Trump: 'Come On, Man!'"}}]}] ```