Sen. Marco Rubio, R- Fla. (AP)
Just politics?
The end of Sen. Marco Rubio’s campaign in early March was marked by an escalation of insults between him and the then-front-runner, real estate mogul Donald Trump.
Now that Trump is the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, with his last competitors – Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich – out of the race, Rubio, who is from Florida, said he’ll support Trump for the Republican nomination.
The reason, Rubio said while stressing the disagreements he continues to have with Trump over policies and the tenor of his campaign, is that he promised to support whomever ended up being the nominee in a loyalty pledge he signed.
The only other choice then would be to vote for Hillary Clinton or to abstain,” Rubio said Wednesday in an interview on NBC, “both of which would be supportive of her, and I have even more policy differences with her and I’m even more scared about her being in control of the U.S. government and continuing the status quo of Barack Obama’s policies.”
Rubio made clear that he still has strong misgivings about Trump.
“My reservation about him were clearly stated and remain unchanged,” he said.
Rubio said the conflicting feelings and views of Trump as the party nominee is one that is haunting many Republicans across the country.
“I clearly didn’t want us to be in the position we are in today,” Rubio said on NBC's “Today” show. “I was a candidate for president who tried to be the nominee myself. It didn’t work out.”
Asked what form his support will take – just public statements, voting for Trump or also campaigning for him – Rubio made clear he would not be promoting the mogul.
“In terms of what I intend to do throughout the campaign,” Rubio said, “I would just say that I think Donald Trump would be best served by having people out there working on his behalf that agree with him on these public policies and are enthusiastic about his campaign and enthusiastically support the things he has stood for.”
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