--- title: Donald Trump Begins Attacking Marco Rubio description: After a strong showing at the third Republican CNBC debate, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio appears to be Trump's new target. canonical: https://time.com/4096490/donald-trump-attacks-marco-rubio/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-02T15:51:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:57.100Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Begins Attacking Marco Rubio og:description: "Marco only won the debate in the minds of desperate people" og:url: https://time.com/4096490/donald-trump-attacks-marco-rubio/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01c925ca45a51d98/69886e9fcd1bba943a6fdda6/debate-gop2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3600 og:image:height: 2025 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-DEBATE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Begins Attacking Marco Rubio twitter:description: "Marco only won the debate in the minds of desperate people" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01c925ca45a51d98/69886e9fcd1bba943a6fdda6/debate-gop2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Sets His Sights on New Target Marco Rubio > 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 [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 2, 2015 3:51 PM UTC  Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump waits for the start of the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate on Oct. 28, 2015 at the Coors Event Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump waits for the start of the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate on Oct. 28, 2015 at the Coors Event Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. Robyn Beck—AFP/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 2, 2015 3:51 PM UTC Donald Trump has gotten used to his frontrunner status after more than 100 days at the top of the polls, so now the GOP candidate is lashing out at others who are threatening his position. First, it was former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who edged Trump out from the top spot in Iowa and by a [slim margin in a national poll](http://time.com/4088458/carson-inches-ahead-of-trump-in-new-national-poll/). [Trump mocked Carson](http://time.com/4085969/donald-trump-ben-carson-iowa/) for being “low energy,” an insult he had previously reserved for the presumed establishment favorite, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Now, after a strong showing at the third Republican CNBC debate, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio appears to be Trump’s new target. A tweet on Sunday assailed Rubio’s position on immigration, which Trump has made the cornerstone of his campaign: > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/660818201765392384) As he usually does after debates, Trump cited his dominance in un-scientific online polls to bolster claims that he won the debate. But he had an explanation Monday for why some pundits were lauding Rubio: perhaps it was the young politician’s appearance. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/661156823723036672) The two didn’t spar much openly during the debate in Boulder, Colo. The moderators [tried to incite controversy](http://time.com/4091301/republican-debate-transcript-cnbc-boulder/) by calling attention to [an immigration policy paper](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/denial-donald-trump-call-marco-rubio-personal-senator/story?id=34792875) that referred to Rubio as “Mark Zuckerberg’s personal Senator,” but Trump said that wasn’t his view and Rubio pivoted to attack the question rather than Trump. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4096490/donald-trump-attacks-marco-rubio/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4096490/donald-trump-attacks-marco-rubio/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Sets His Sights on New Target Marco Rubio","datePublished":"2015-11-02T15:51:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:57.100Z","description":"\"Marco only won the debate in the minds of desperate people\"","url":"https://time.com/4096490/donald-trump-attacks-marco-rubio/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Sen. 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