AP
February 26, 2016
Marco
Rubio waged an all-out verbal assault on Donald Trump Friday morning as
his allies prepared to spend millions on new attack ads in key states,
promising an aggressive
and well-funded takedown effort the morning after the Republican
front-runner was knocked on his heels on the debate stage.
Rubio,
the leading aggressor during the debate, picked up where he left off
Friday morning. In several television interviews, he questioned Trump's
business background,
his ability to lead the nation, and repeatedly called the billionaire
businessman a "con artist" who has spent decades "sticking it to the
little guy."
"We
are not going to turn over the conservative movement to a con artist
who is telling people one thing but has spent 40 years sticking it to
working Americans and now
claims to be their champion," Rubio told NBC's "Today" show.
He also accused Trump of being worth far less than he has claimed, and pressed him to release his tax returns.
"The
reason Donald won't release his taxes is because he hasn't made as
nearly as much money as he claims he does," Rubio said. "He's not as
rich as he claims to be. Everybody
in finance knows that and his taxes would expose that."
Trump
fired back on Friday, saying that Rubio looked like "a little boy on
stage." He also misspelled "lightweight" and "choker" while leveling
attacks against Rubio on
Twitter.
"Lying
Ted Cruz and lightweight chocker Marco Rubio teamed up last night in a
last ditch effort to stop our great movement. They failed!" Trump wrote,
before deleting
and reposting tweets without the errors.
At
at rally in Dallas, Rubio also ridiculed Trump over the tweets and
joked that the billionaire businessman may have "wet his pants" over his
debate performance backstage
during a break.
"He wanted a full length mirror -- maybe to make sure his pants were't wet. I don't know," Rubio said.
The
comments come as the GOP presidential candidates barreled into the
final stretch to Super Tuesday following a name-calling, insult-trading,
finger-pointing final debate
in which Rubio and Ted Cruz engaged in a tag-team attack intended to
slow Trump's momentum before it's too late.
"I've
dealt with tougher," Trump sniffed after taking incoming for two-plus
hours Thursday night. He said he knew the attacks were coming because
"they're desperate. They're
losing by massive amounts."
Later
Friday, Trump announced New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's endorsement at
a rally in Fort Worth. The endorsement is a blow to Trump's Republican
competitors, not least
Rubio, who had been courting the tough-talking governor since he
dropped out of the race.
"Desperate
people do desperate things," Christie said of Rubio's attacks while
standing at Trump's side. "The idea that Marco Rubio can get inside
Donald Trump's head
is an interesting proposition."
Trump
continued his attack on Rubio at the rally, mocking the senator's
propensity for sweating during debates. "It's Rubio!" he exclaimed while
spilling water from a
bottle and pretending to faint.
He called Rubio a "low life" and said he can't imagine Rubio standing up to Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Eleven
states vote in Tuesday's mega-round of voting, with 595 delegates at
stake. Trump, with three straight victories behind him, has the
momentum, and his rivals know
they have to change that dynamic to have any hope of derailing his
steamroll toward the nomination.
As
Trump's rivals ratcheted up their criticism, a pro-Rubio super PAC also
announced plans to start running new Trump attack ads in key states
Friday morning.
One
of the ads charges that Trump "knows nothing about foreign policy."
Another targets his business background, highlights the businessman's
use of "sleazy bankruptcy
laws to avoid paying workers" and highlights his recent comment that he
loves "the poorly educated."
The
ads are part of a "significant part of a multi-state, multi-million
dollar buy," said the pro-Rubio group's spokesman, Jeff Sadosky.
It
was far from clear, though, that the new effort will solve Trump's
rivals' basic conundrum — each struggling to emerge as the clear
alternative to the front-runner
as non-Trump voters continue to splinter their support among the
alternatives.
"I
think it does take me a little bit longer to get into the rhythm of
campaigning," she said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." ''We hit our stride in
Nevada. Our message of breaking
all barriers is really beginning to take hold. I really felt we were on
an upward trajectory."
From
Houston, the GOP candidates spread out in the hunt for Super Tuesday
votes, with Cruz headed for Tennessee and Virginia on Friday. Both Trump
and Rubio are signaling
they're unwilling to cede Texas, the crown jewel of Super Tuesday, to
the home state senator, Cruz. Each scheduled campaign events in Texas
before heading to Oklahoma City.
Up
until Thursday, Rubio and Cruz had shown little willingness to take on
Trump when the national spotlight shines the brightest. That all changed
in Houston.
Rubio
was the principal aggressor, spitting out a steady stream of criticism
on everything from Trump's position on immigration to his privileged
background, his speaking
style and more. Cruz was happy to pile on, too, questioning the
front-runner's conservative credentials, foreign policy savvy and
electability.
In
one testy moment, Rubio speculated that if Trump "hadn't inherited $200
million, you know where Donald Trump would be right now? Selling
watches in Manhattan."
Not
long after that, he took on Trump's declaration that he'd build a wall
on the Mexican border, declaring: "If he builds a wall the way he built
Trump Tower he'll be
using illegal immigrant labor to do it."
Joining in, Cruz criticized Trump for suggesting he alone had "discovered the issue of illegal immigration."
Both said Trump had had to pay a $1 million fine for illegal immigration hiring.
It was a rare night where the bombastic Trump, standing between the two senators, found himself on the defensive.
He
was hardly silent, responding to both Rubio and Cruz: "This guy's a
choke artist and this guy's a liar. ... Other than that I rest my case."
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