The Slatest

Marco Rubio Is Now a Full-Fledged Trump Supporter

Marco Rubio participates in a debate sponsored by Fox News on March 3, 2016 in Detroit, Michigan.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Marco Rubio has now completed his transition from #NeverTrump tri-captain to full-fledged Donald Trump supporter. Yep, the very same Marco Rubio who was so desperate to stop the celebrity billionaire earlier this year that he questioned the size of his, um, hands. Via CNN:

Marco Rubio says he plans to attend the Republican convention, will release his delegates to vote for Donald Trump and would be willing to speak on Trump’s behalf. “I want to be helpful. I don’t want to be harmful, because I don’t want Hillary Clinton to be president,” Rubio told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview.

“Look, my policy differences with Donald Trump—I spent 11 months talking about them. So I think they’re well understood,” Rubio said. “That said … I don’t want Hillary Clinton to be president. If there’s something I can do to help that from happening, and it’s helpful to the cause, I’d most certainly be honored to be considered for that.”

Rubio’s slow embrace of Trump actually began about a month after the Florida senator dropped out of the GOP race following an embarrassing loss in his home state to the real estate tycoon. In May, Rubio made it clear that he’d back the GOP nominee whoever it was (at a time when it looked increasingly like that person would be Trump).

These latest comments, though, suggest the former White House hopeful is willing to take a more public role in campaigning for Trump, be it at the convention or on the stump. While his stated goal is to prevent Clinton from winning in November, it sounds like there may be a secondary reason for why he’d willing to fall in line with the rest of his party. He told Tapper that it’s a “safe assumption” that his failed 2016 presidential bid won’t be his last run for office. “If there’s an opportunity to serve again in a way that I feel passionate about, I most certainly think I’d explore it,” Rubio said.

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