Ex-Trump critic Marco Rubio ripped for 'cowardly gaslighting' after endorsement: 'No integrity'
Like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and "Hillbilly Elegy" author J.D. Vance (now a U.S. senator via Ohio), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) went from being a scathing critic of Donald Trump during the 2016 election to being a staunch defender.
Rubio had nothing good to say about Trump during the 2016 Iowa Caucuses, but he endorsed Trump over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as the 2024 Iowa Caucuses were getting underway. And Rubio's detractors are pointing out how badly he has flip-flopped where Trump is concerned.
In a Sunday, January 14 post on X, formerly Twitter, Rubio posted, "When Trump was in WH I achieved major policies I had worked on for years (like expanded Child Tax Credit & tough sanctions on regime in Cuba & Venezuela) because we had a President who didn’t cave to special interests or let bureaucrats block us. I support Trump because that kind of leadership is the ONLY way we will get the extraordinary actions needed to fix the disaster Biden has created. It's time to get on with the work of beating Biden & saving America!"
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Republicans Against Trump responded to the endorsement by posting a 2016 clip of Rubio comparing Trump to a "third-world strongman."
Rubio, that year, told CNN's Jake Tapper, "Here's what happens in many countries around the world. You have a leader that emerges and basically says, 'Don't put your faith in yourselves. Don't put your faith in society. Put your faith in me; I'm a strong leader, and I'm going to make things better all by myself.' This is very typical. You see it a lot in the Third World; you see it a lot in Latin America for decades…. We've never been that kind of country."
Tweeting that 2016 interview, Republicans Against Trump mockingly asked Rubio, "Is this you?"
MeidasTouch's Ron Filipkowski called Rubio out as well, tweeting a CBS News clip from 2016 in which Rubio attacked Trump as a "con man" and an "erratic individual" who had "no ideas of any substance."
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Never Trump conservative Michael Jones tweeted that Rubio's attacks on Trump in 2016 were spot on — before he shamelessly flip-flopped.
Jones tweeted, "The thing is Rubio was 100% accurate in all of those criticisms of Trump. And yet he is endorsing Trump (for the second time) anyway. That is the definition of having no integrity."
Never Trump conservative Tim Miller, a former GOP strategist, lambasted Rubio on X and wrote, "Never Trumpers and Democrats already see Marco for who he is so I’m going to leave us aside for a second. Those who signed up for DeSantis bc of policy wins or Haley for ideology should be enraged by this cowardly gaslighting."
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