Marco Rubio: Trump may have wet pants at debate
“He had one of those sweat mustaches”
I noted last night that Marco Rubio had done to Donald Trump what Trump successfully did to Jeb Bush:
…. Marco Rubio was the first person in any of the debates to successfully take on Trump on a range of issues. Rubio mocked and belittled Trump in the humorous, mocking and highly effective manner that Trump used to make Jeb look small.
Mockery can be a very effective tactic against bullies, because it takes their strength and turns it into their weakness.
Rubio is on the stump today continuing the mockery, suggesting that Trump was panicking and may even have been worried he wet his pants, via Politico:
“He called me Mr. Meltdown. Let me tell you something, last night in the debate during one of the breaks, two of the breaks, he went backstage and he was having a meltdown,” Rubio claimed. ”First he had one of those makeup things applying around his mustache because he had one of those sweat mustaches. Then, then he asked for a full length mirror, I don’t know why because the podium goes up to here (gestures to stomach). I don’t know why maybe to make sure his pants weren’t wet.”
Even more so, Rubio called Trump’s tough guy act a charade:
“It’s time. The charade is up … a tough guy? This guy inherited $200 million. He’s never faced any struggle … Donald Trump has never punched anyone in the face. Donald Trump was the first guy that begged for secret service protection. First guy.”
Will this make a difference?
Probably not to Trump supporters. But it may help anoint Rubio as the leading non-Trump candidate, which is the position each of the four non-Trump remaining candidate’s seeks.
Much of the commentary post-debate was that it was too little, too late for Rubio. I guess time will tell.
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Comments
Will Rubio overplay his hand by trying to out-Trump Trump?
The difference, to me, is that Trump comes off authentic and Rubio seems like he’s acting. Not to mention that the new schtick goes against the brand he’s created to date.
When did crudeness and bombast become the benchmarks of “authenticity”?
An authentic person would adhere to his policy viewpoints for more than a couple of months, or days. An authentic Republican would have voted in a Republican primary once or twice, and would not have overwhelmingly favored Democrats with words and money until he decided to seek the presidency on the GOP ticket.
Trump boasts that he’s “very capable of changing into whatever he wants to change to” — except that he cannot change his character, which is that of an egomaniacal bully with rotten manners. And it’s unlikely that he would ever want to.
I don’t think that’s what OldSchool meant by “authentic.” I read it not as an endorsement of Trump but that Trump is not acting, he’s exactly who you see whereas Rubio seemed to be not being himself. I could be wrong…but that’s how I read it.
You are correct, as the comment I was writing when you posted, indicates.
I don’t accept your characterization. You can have your view of authenticity, but Trump seems the very same to me as he was before he even started. Is Rubio morphing into Cruz light?
I think that Trump uses his bombast to get the attention that the others can only envy, and as the circumstances change he seems more adaptable. Would he have had the same impact if he emulated the others, or has he touched a nerve across the country with people that are fed up with how things are going?
I’ve no idea where it goes from here, but so far Trump has done what no one else expected, and if that shows anything it’s that he knows how to dominate the environment. This capability, which no one expected, may signal that the career politicians are the most incompetent of all.
Trump cannot change his character, which is awful. And part of his character is that he has few set principles aside from self-worship.
Some consistency in ideas about governance and policy ought to be expected in a presidential candidate, but Trump fans do not ask it of him. They’ll just make excuses for why he somehow HAD to support different views before, or they’ll make absurd comparisons to Reagan, or just deflect (“but Obama! but Hillary!”)
From the get-go, Trump fans have said that his “unfiltered, un-PC” demeanor and casual throwing around of boasts and insults are proof that he’s honest and his promises are more reliable than all the “politicians.”
And that is crazy.
In your opinion, that is. All I know is that Trump is taking on the system unlike ever before in the modern age. It’s well past time that someone did. In and of itself, that seems like a good thing to me.
Donald Ducks is an authentic asphole. I’ll give him that…
Promise me you won’t vote for Trump even if your vote is the deciding factor in making Hillary your President. MMM such passion.
I promise I won’t vote for Trump. Are you happy now?
FYI – McCain was the first time in my adult life I did not vote for the Republican nominee for president. Romney was the second. Better-than-the-other-guy just isn’t good enough anymore – in fact I am insulted that you believe that’s enough to justify my vote.
Trump “Authentic?” Huh? He’s got that godawful orange spray tan and orange hair, which is horribly offset when his face blows up like a ripe tomato when someone challenges him. Rubio was fantastic. About time someone called Trump on his myriad bogus falsehoods
“Donald Trump was the first guy that begged for secret service protection. First guy.”
Asking for secret service protection when you’re the first (and still only) candidate regularly pulling in stadium-sized crowds doesn’t seem to be anything but prudent. At the time Trump asked for SS protection, Rubio was probably speaking to 100 or less.
Trump has many, many legitimate issues to be criticized on. But criticizing personal security needs seems to be a stretch.
Not to meantion a hit put out on him by “El Chapo”.
The jig is up for the NY values kid. We’ve found his tell.
He sweats out of every pore. And you can see the red ink in his eyes and the smoke he’s been blowing is now coming out of his ears.
So giving up on Cruz and seeing if you like Robo-Rubio gasms?
How GOPe of you.
You think the one candidate who has overwhelmingly favored Democrats and their policies, and who has helped “GOPe” candidates like McConnell against their conservative challengers, is the one who’s really going to rid us of the eeeevil of the GOPe selling out to Dems.
Frankly, that is insane.
I’m not a Rubio fan, but his actual record is vastly more conservative than Trump’s.
Rubio is excoriated on the sole basis of the Gang of Eight — and it’s reasonable to distrust him on that ground. But no one — NO ONE — has presented a plausible reason for believing that Trump’s campaign rhetoric is any more reliable than Rubio’s.
It is simply blind faith attached to a personality cult — and the faith stubbornly clings to Donald the Great against mountains of contrary evidence.
“I’m not a Rubio fan,”
LOL, then you are only left with Kasich or Carson or shrillary.
Tell us, who you are a fan of?
Not just the Gang of 8. I don’t know if you’ve been following the war on men that’s being waged on our college campuses, but if you haven’t here it is in a nut shell: Any woman can accuse any man of rape. In most colleges they have a Kangaroo Court set-up where the woman’s testimony is automatically assumed to be true so the man is in the position where he has to prove innocence. Without legal representation and with the distinct possibility that any countering evidence will be ignored. While a guilty finding won’t lead to jail time it will lead to expulsion with the reason on his college record. Good luck getting into another school. The definition of ‘rape’ is pretty flexible as well and ever changing (a man was convicted of raping a woman because she had oral sex with him while he was passed out). Rubio has co sponsored a bill that would strengthen the colleges’ ability to conduct these kangaroo courts. Hence, he is not only showing disdain for our borders but also for our Constitutionally protected due process protections. Pretty significant in my books because he’s shown himself to be so easily lead that he would have no problems voiding other Constitutional protections just to get a few more votes.
What bill? Please identify it. Who is the other co-sponsor?
Rational people see those things and weigh them. Trumpbots are not rational people.
Is calling someone a “bot” being rational? Who are you to decide what is rational anyway? No offense, but you sound like a progressive demeaning conservatives.
Did Rubio get the best of Trump in the debate last night? It Depends.
It depends on whether Trump fans are willing to see what’s in front of their eyes and ears. The evidence suggests that few of them are. They’ve poured too much emotion into their superhero fantasy.
Radegunda, I think Paul capitalzed ‘Depends’ for a reason… https://www.depend.com/mens-solutions
Yep, if you’re gonna try and sell me another suit, how about one without moth eaten Amnesty holes and different sleeve lengths.
Cruz, win or lose, is an honorable conservative that I’m proud to support. Reaching down into the slimy depths of the Gang of Eight is like tapping a cesspool for drinking water. Are they really going to keep fluffing Rubio here?
Damn shame, too. Rubio the Cure is worse than Trump the disease.
Rubio is not the best cure on the one issue where he has disappointed (to put it mildly), but there’s no reason at all to trust that the disease of Trump is less bad.
Trump has been quite changeable in his supposed principles — but somehow his campaign promises are considered trustworthy because: 1.”He’s not PC!” or 2. “He can’t be bought!”
It’s idiotic. And (as Matt Walsh pointed out), if Trump fans think it’s refreshingly honest for Trump to call people stupid losers and liars in Tourette’s-like fashion, they ought to applaud the honesty of anyone willing to say that their pro-Trump arguments are stupid and shallow.
Does Rubio really expect me to change my vote because had a good night disparaging Trump? Not going to happen. His handlers had him take Chris Christie’s slam from NH and use it on trump – he is a manufactured candidate.
This wet pants thing is designed to provoke a damaging reaction from Trump – hope he doesn’t fall for it.
By the way Marco – the 2012 debate called, Obama wants his derision back.
Why is Rubio so concerned about Trump’s wee wee? Maybe those stories about Rubio attending those foam parties are true.
Um, sport? How come Trump fans never ever comment on the thousands and thousands of dollars Trump has poured into the campaigns of Hillary; Harry Reid: Tom Daschle; Rahm Emanuel and so many others?
What I saw last night is that Trump is a spoiled child when challenged. Also, it is NOT good form to put down an interviewer about his low ratings on radio (is it even true?). Shows Trump to be a poor sport, and Trump is a very very bad example for our children.
P.S. Wasn’t it just this week that the Robio talking point was how “unifying” he would be? Is this an example of that?
Oh, tee-hee, I can’t wait for Rubio to call Trump a poopy-head.
Guys, grow up. The voting age is 18, not 12. These antics won’t help Rubio in the slightest.
Mr. Swift: It is TRUMP who has been doing the name calling week after week after week after week. Really disparaging and childish comments about Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina. He is the fifth grader when it comes to insults. Like Trump- who projects on to others the qualities that he himself possesses, his blind followers can’t see what he is doing. You are in for a very rude awakening
Uhm… an endorsement from Newt Gingrich?
it really doesn’t matter about the debates – since agreement on winners and losers never changes and exposing more of Trump’s illegal activities, crony capitalism and lies has no effect on the Trump lemmings. They think that his juvenile personality, shallowness, bombastic lies and his narcissism are qualities befitting the office of the President.
Fifty-eight percent of GOP voters disapprove of Trump and only 33% approve. If this unfavorable feeling keeps 3 to 5 million conservative Republicans at home come November – well, we know what happened to Willard Mitt in 2012 and his party negatives were nowhere near Trumps.
As of tomorrow, there should only be one candidate running against Trump – Cruz or Rubio. Kasich and Ben Carson need to be gone already. If Cruz gives one for the Gipper – that will likely move more votes to Trump because Rubio is now the establishment candidate and Rubio now has too much PAC money behind him to understand that he cannot possibly win. Dreams about a brokered convention are no longer practical since delegates keep piling up for Trump.
Everyone knew that there were too many candidates last summer but egos overcame logic. Super Tuesday goes to Trump on this road to Abilene.
Getting into a ball-busting fight with a New Yorker is a losing proposition. They invented the sport.
Is this a presidential election or a day in grade school? From some of the remarks I have heard / read both from candidates and comments on threads I would guess the latter. Everyone can disagree without name calling, which just shows you are no better than the person you are disagreeing with! Substance is what is needed. End of rant!!