This might seem like a strange argument to make, but of all the things Trump puts his energy into, staging and image really seem to be his highest priority. And I can’t help noticing the staging at his G7 speech. Marco Rubio stands beside, and a little behind Trump. The weird thing is, he looks to be almost the same height. That would take some pretty purposeful arrangements, and Trump is unlikely to agree to anyone looking taller in his presence unless he has a political reason for it. Of all the hints I have heard about Trump supporting Rubio for 2028, this is the one I find most convincing.
The link is to an hour-plus video of Trump (at least at the beginning). I think it’s kind of mean to spring that on the unsuspecting.
I thought Rubio was actually rather short, didn’t Trump tease him for that back in 2016? Google says he is 5-9 to 5-10.
I frankly see no motive or profit for Trump to support anyone in particular for the next election (always assuming there will be one) unless and until he can be absolutely sure that that person will issue a blanket pardon for Trump and his family on day one. I don’t see how he can be absolutely sure of that about anyone. I am, of course, hoping that it will not be an issue anyway, because a Democrat will be in that office.
I don’t think Trump will support anyone in 2028. He wants to be president himself again. If he can’t have it, he won’t help anyone else to get it.
I think he’s going to try to pull some kind of “Fraud! Do-over! I get to stay in office until we figure it out!” move -that is, if he is coherent enough to remember what year it is and what his job title is. Whether states and courts will roll over and accept it remains to be seen, but that’s a different debate.
I thought he teased him about his small hands. Insinuating that he had a small dick. Looking back now I find it strange he didn’t just come out and say that Rubio had a small dick.
Doubtful Trump would support such a man, or even considering him a man since he is Trumps lapdog now.
I thought Trump was the one who had been accused of having small hands, and that he was so sensitive about that insult that he would be unlikely to try to turn it around on someone else. But my memory of those halcyon days of yore, before we had to take Trump seriously, is probably shaky.
Actually I remembered in reverse, Rubio accused Trump of having a small dick, and he was correct!
More reason for Trump not to support him, because he hates people who speak the truth!
If Trump concedes that he must retire in 2029, he’ll want his replacement to be somebody he feels he can control. He’ll want to keep running the country through a figurehead that will obey Trump’s orders.
I think Trump will look to somebody in his family as somebody who he can trust to step in for him. So he’ll push for Don Jr or Eric to secede him.
During the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Trump called him “LIttle Marco.” He had devastating insults for everyone in that primary.
Marco Rubio retaliated, as described by ABC News.
“He is taller than me, he’s like 6’ 2”, which is why I don’t understand why his hands are the size of someone who is 5’ 2"," Rubio joked. "Have you seen his hands? And you know what they say about men with small hands – "
The crowd erupted.
" – You can’t trust them," Rubio said.
Rubio had a better script, but he didn’t have the delivery.
Ah, yes, the good old days. . . when our biggest problem was that Trump retaliated by discussing his penis size during a Presidential Debate. Another of those moments that I still can’t believe didn’t end the whole nightmare.
Has Little Marco grown into those Florsheims yet? I saw a pic that appeared to show him in those same clown shoes trump gave him. If that’s the case, that’s pathetic.
Why didn’t the dumb ass just get a pair of the same model in the correct size? It’s not like it takes a lot to fool Donald.
I thought the same thing; replace the ill fitting shoes with the same Florsheims in the correct size. And congratulate the president for his correct guess at your shoe size.
IKR? That is the power of dictators, though. Everyone is terrified to stand up to them. Rubio even lied to Congress about those shoes.
Regarding that (Rubio lying to Congress about those shoes), I found this bit from a Yahoo! News article.
Marco Rubio tore into Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-California, during Wednesday’s House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing after she questioned him about the pair of shoes he received from Donald Trump as a gift (via APT). The heated exchange followed Jacobs’ criticism of Rubio’s testimony regarding the recent Iran conflict, accusing him of refusing to acknowledge facts.
“Mr. Secretary, it seems like you have an issue admitting facts… You couldn’t admit the shoes the president bought you were too big,” Jacobs said. In response, Rubio fumed, “I don’t know about the shoes. I mean, [Trump] gave me some Florsheim shoes that are actually pretty good; they fit fine, I don’t know what she’s talking about.”
Who knows what he will do two years from now, but for right now I think he’s coyly stringing along Rubio and Vance. Pitting them against each other for his own amusement and so that they will be forced to compete for who can suck up to him the most.
The new book “Regime Change” has a scene where Trump, Vance, Rubio, and Rupert Murdoch are having dinner together and Trump asks Murdoch whom he likes better.
Murdock said that Vance had the potential to be great and that Rubio was brilliant.
I think this is what’s really happening. Trump doesn’t want either Rubio or Vance (or anyone else for that matter) to get too powerful, too soon,. So one week he’ll assign Vance to some high profile thing, and the next week it’ll be Rubio’s turn. Not only does it diminish their power but it forces them into competition with each other, rather than building their own bases.
Maybe Trump will endorse one of them before 2028, or maybe he’ll just sit back and let them fight each other in the primaries, so he can be kingmaker at the end.
At some point, Republican politicians like Rubio and Vance start to seriously pursue the 2028 Republican nomination and Trump turns into a lame duck. That, of course, is something he doesn’t want because he’s no longer the center of attention.