-National Harbor, Maryland
Marco Rubio didn’t mention Donald Trump by name during his rowdy speech at CPAC on Saturday. But during a Q & A with CNN’s Dana Bash at the Gaylord Hotel in National Harbor, Maryland, he thrilled the crowd with a series of sharp jabs at the Republican frontrunner and the media that covers him.
Bash asked the Florida senator why so many conservatives seem to be voting for Trump, who he calls a fake conservative and a con artist. “I’ll tell you one of the reasons why – and I don’t mean to take you on this, but I want to be clear,” Rubio said. “Because I’ve now been sitting here for 5 minutes, and 2 out of the 3 questions have been about Donald Trump –”
He tried to go on, but was drowned out by a massive standing ovation – undoubtedly the loudest crowd response any speaker received over the last three days.
Rubio’s Saturday-morning appearance illustrated the massive anti-Trump sentiment bubbling just under CPAC’s surface. The crowd leapt to its feet again and again as the senator slammed the billionaire real-estate mogul, particularly for his decision to skip his own scheduled CPAC speech earlier Saturday morning.
“I mean, this is the American Conservative Union, it’s usually reserved for conservatives,” Rubio quipped. “Look, either the ideas behind conservatism matter, or they do not.”
Bash later asked Rubio whether he was worried about contributing to lowering of America’s political discourse. “I can’t explain to my kids, you’re talking about . . . hands, and things like that,” she said, alluding to a discussion in Thursday night’s debate about the size of Trump’s genitalia.
The crowd booed Bash’s question as Rubio began to answer. “I’m more than happy to answer another Trump question,” he said. “You know, Donald Trump, he might have grown up the way he did, a lot of money, a lot of boarding schools. I can tell you this: where I grew up, if someone keeps punching people in the face, eventually someone’s going to have to stand up and punch them back.”
The crowd went wild.
Rubio was less sanguine when asked about his chances in upcoming GOP primary elections. But he was willing to promise one thing. “I can tell you, we will win the state of Florida. I will beat Donald Trump there, just like we beat Charlie Crist,” the senator said. “I have experience at beating people who don’t say who they truly are . . . and you’re going to find that out on March 15 in Florida.”