INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Marco Rubio: The Senator That Some Republicans Are Saying Could Have Stopped Donald Trump

By Bryan Star
Published on: 10:51 PST, May 8, 2016

Could Marco Rubio have swooped in and saved the day? There are some Republican officials who believe so.

In the current wave of politics, it’s clear that Donald Trump is picking up steam. Some would call it surprise, and others would call it inevitable. But with the race coming closer to its end, CNN reports that things could have been different if Senator Marco Rubio had joined the ticket. Ted Cruz, a Canadian-Born American politician and junior United States Senator, recently suspended his own campaign on May 3 of this year. Cruz lost the Republican primary in Indiana to Donald Trump, and speculation has begun to come about since then.

It’s being reported that the officials from Cruz’s campaign believe that Sen. Marco Rubio is to blame for not having taken the necessary steps to stop Donald Trump. Dating back to March, it became increasingly evident that Trump was gaining ground. The March 15 primary would have likely been his, but sources who are close to the Ted Cruz campaign say that polls were run in secrecy to determine the impact of Marco Rubio joining Cruz as a running mate. Would there have been a difference if Cruz was at the front of the ticket, Rubio at his side?

Marco Rubio had no interest in finding out. Back in March, Politico reported that Rubio rejected the idea of a “unity ticket.” Doug Deason, the son of billionaire Darwin Deason, wasn’t keeping it under wraps that he pushed for the defeat of Donald Trump. Deason was a definite Ted Cruz supporter, and he spoke to Cruz’s campaign manager, Marc Roe, on the matter. It was even said that Deason wanted to talk to Marc Short, Marco Rubio’s senior adviser. When Doug introduced the idea of Rubio and Cruz, Short’s reply was that Rubio just wasn’t interested. Deason had much to say about the matter.

“Rubio was too pompous to act on it. He believed his own internal polls and there was no swaying him away from staying in the race through the Florida primary,” Doug Deason stated. “If he had signed on before the first Super Tuesday, Cruz would have won all of the Texas votes and a lot more delegates. They may have very well won Florida.”

Marco Rubio could have been key as a vice presidential choice, and many support this thought. Unfortunately, the resentment of Cruz’s officials can only paint a “what if” picture. As stated, polls were tested to see how the “unity ticket” would fair. Three March 15 primary states were polled: North Carolina, Missouri, and Illinois. An additional test was done in Arizona and Wisconsin. The results were clear. Sources close to Ted Cruz called it a “blowout,” even going so far as to give percentages: 65 percent to 35 percent, with Donald Trump losing.

With those types of numbers, it was hard to ignore that Marco Rubio had stopping power in the eye of politics. Who wouldn’t have acted on such a clear decision, especially with Trump on the rise? Apparently, the Cruz Campaign attempted to contact Rubio. But neither they, or Cruz, could get through to Rubio for so much as a discussion.

“He went off the grid,” a source close to Cruz stated. Later comment by a source that CNN reports as “a source familiar with Rubio’s thinking” stated that nothing solid had ever reached the table. It was vague at best, but Marco was still uninterested. Perhaps Marco Rubio was preserving his own agenda, but he gave his own reasons. Apparently, he just didn’t think that he would complement Cruz as a fellow Cuban-American freshman senator. He also believed, according to a source, that two senators from Washington teaming up against Donald Trump would be a puzzle piece that fit into the Trump outsider narrative.

Other factors came into play, according to Rubio’s source, including the thought that freedom should have been granted to a nominee in a more long-term manner and not just a quick pick because of the primaries. Breitbart reports that Cruz’s selection of Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett-Packard and presidential candidate, ultimately did nothing to help in the afterall decline. Rubio saw this as a backing to his belief, and the rest was history.

Regardless, all of this is merely speculation. The reality is that Donald Trump won, and he has advanced beyond the resentment of some Republican officials.

How do you feel about this scenario? If Marco Rubio had joined the ticket, do you think that Trump would have fallen short?

[Photo By Win McNamee/Getty Images]

Share this article: Marco Rubio: The Senator That Some Republicans Are Saying Could Have Stopped Donald Trump
Donald Trump Marco Rubio Ted Cruz
More from Inquisitr