President Obama, En Route To Miami (Photo: The White House)
On Thursday, President Obama came to Florida to rally on behalf of Patrick Murphy, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, and as he toured the state, he delivered a well-deserved, blistering take down of Marco Rubio, his hypocrisy, his endless pandering, and his continued support of Donald Trump.
It was a thing of beauty.
He also delivered a dose of reality on how the Republican Party created Trump, and targeted the danger of Trump's rhetoric, his talk of "rigged elections," and especially Trump's claims that he may not accept the results of the election should voters choose Hillary Clinton.
Among the highlights:
On Rubio's support of Trump:
“I'm even more confused by Republican politicians who still support Donald Trump,” Obama said. “Marco Rubio is one of those people. How does that work? How can you call him a ‘con artist’ and ‘dangerous’ and object to all the controversial things he says and then say, ‘But I'm still gonna vote for him?' C'mon, man!”
Obama cited Rubio's comments from February, when he called Trump a "con artist."
"Say it again!" an attendee shouted.
"Do you want me to say it again?" Obama asked. "He said, Marco Rubio said, this was a dangerous con artist who spent a lifetime, spent a career, sticking it to working people! Now that begs the question, since we're in Florida: why does Marco Rubio still plan to vote for Donald Trump?"
More on Rubio's refusal to condemn Trump:
"He's refuting the dangerous and unprecedented claims of a candidate he says he's still going to vote for!" Obama said. "Which just gives you one more bit of proof that Marco seems to just care about hanging onto his job."
"Progress is on the ballot. Stability is on the ballot. Tolerance is on the ballot. Justice is on the ballot. Equality is on the ballot. Our democracy is on the ballot. Hillary Clinton will advance those things," Obama said. "Donald Trump wants to reverse progress. Marco Rubio wants to help him."
"They've been saying crazy stuff, and there are a lot of politicians like Marco Rubio who know better, but they just look the other way," he said.
Obama blamed politicians like Rubio for encouraging far-right conspiracy theories and obstructing Democrat-backed political initiatives to gain popular support.
"They just stood by and said nothing, even though they knew better, while their base actually started believing some of this stuff," he said.
He went on to shred Republican members of Congress for standing by Trump through a flood of controversies, including his "bromance with Putin," his comments calling Mexican immigrants "criminals and rapists," and his attacks on a Gold Star family.
"I don't give a lot of credit to folks who are just now trying to walk away from Trump. Although I will say I'm even more confused by Republican politicians who still support Donald Trump."
Meanwhile, as crowds across the state cheered at President Obama's reality check on Rubio's hypocrisy, the absentee Senator held his own campaign event, speaking to a small crowd of supporters. This version of the "somebody" Rubio pretended to be never mentioned his continued support of Trump. In fact, he didn't even mention Trump's name at all.
Go figure.