From the
Washington Examiner:
In the late stages of his doomed presidential campaign, Sen. Marco Rubio declared that the front-runner for his party's nomination was "a con artist." But it turns out that Donald Trump wasn't the only GOP presidential candidate pulling the wool over people's eyes.
On Thursday, Rubio took another step toward fully embracing Trump for the presidency by telling CNN's Jake Tapper that he not only planned to attend the Republican convention, but that he would be "honored" to speak on Trump's behalf.
"Look, my policy differences with Donald Trump — I spent 11 months talking about them. So I think they're well understood," Rubio told Tapper. "That said ... I don't want Hillary Clinton to be president. If there's something I can do to help that from happening, and it's helpful to the cause, I'd most certainly be honored to be considered for that."
Rubio's assaults on Trump during the primary season were about more than "policy differences." In addition to repeatedly calling Trump a "con artist," Rubio: predicted that a Trump presidency would bring "chaos"; said Trump was "wholly unprepared to be president"; and warned about handing over control of the U.S. nuclear arsenal to an "erratic individual" and a "lunatic."
On an even more fundamental level, the Trump phenomenon represented something that Rubio portrayed as being deeply threatening to the fabric of the nation. As a politician, Rubio rose to stardom by pushing an inspirational message that invoked the sunny optimism of Ronald Reagan, and applied it to a new electorate. In contrast, Trump's candidacy has thrived from the anti-establishment anger sweeping the Republican electorate.
As Rubio's campaign neared its conclusion, days before his embarrassing defeat to Trump in his home state of Florida,
an emotional Rubio lamented to reporters about violence at Trump rallies, suggesting that it was important to "look at the rhetoric coming from the front-runner in the presidential campaign. This is a man who in rallies has told his supporters to basically beat up the people who are in the crowd and he'll pay their legal fees."
When everybody who is angry merely says and does whatever they want, Rubio said, "the result is it all breaks down. It's called chaos. It's called anarchy. And that's what we're careening toward in our political process."
He warned of real life consequences to Trump's rhetoric.
"Forget about the election for a moment, there's a broader issue in our political culture in this country," he said. "And this is what happens when a leading presidential candidate goes around feeding into a narrative of anger and bitterness and frustration."
He said that violent clashes among Trump supporters and opponents represented a "frightening, grotesque, and disturbing development in American politics" and Rubio declared, "We are being ripped apart at the seams." He solemnly said, "I'm sad for this country."
For all of Rubio's high-minded talk, however, it seems that when push comes to shove, he doesn't have the courage to stand up for his stated convictions.
It's one thing to begrudgingly argue that as dangerous as he thinks a Trump presidency would be, that he thinks a Clinton presidency would be even worse. But to actually say that he would be "honored" by the chance to speak on Trump's behalf at the GOP convention, and to downplay his previously stated problems with Trump as mere "policy differences," is to prove the Rubio skeptics right.
That is, far from being an inspirational moral leader, Rubio has shown himself to be more of an opportunistic politician with his finger to the wind. He latched on to the Tea Party energy when he needed it to launch a long-shot Senate bid against an establishment figure in 2010. He embraced the idea of comprehensive immigration reform in 2013 in the wake of a GOP "autopsy" suggesting it was necessary to win in a changing electorate, but then downplayed it as it became a hindrance to his presidential campaign. Now he's desperate to reconcile his past words about Trump — from just over two months ago — with his political need to fall in line behind his party's nominee.
For all of Rubio's rhetoric about responsible leadership, he's now willing to embrace a demagogue just because that demagogue has an 'R' next to his name. Trump, for all his faults, has managed to expose Rubio's true character — and it is not pretty.
A couple of comments:
1. Rubio, along with the other GOP candidates, signed a pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee.
2. Having said that, Rubio is a politician. Politicians are, by nature, all about themselves. Hypocrisy is the norm. So what's the scandal here?
[NB: I always say that politicians are basically the same as prostitutes, but without the personal integrity. At least with a prostitute, you there is no illusion that you're going to get ******.]
