Rubio calls Trump a ‘con artist,’ pledges to expose him

“A presidential nominee who’s ideologically inflexible represents a greater challenge in the Northeast than a nominee who’s ideologically malleable and scattered, which is Trump”, Dent said.

Rubio relished telling voters at two rallies Friday in Dallas and Oklahoma City about how Trump acted during a TV commercial break from Thursday night’s acrimonious primary debate in Houston. “I may not endorse at all”, said Walker, “but the one thing I agree with my one friend Chris on is that as a Republican, it’s ultimately about making sure that there is a Republican president for a whole variety of reasons”.

Cruz was left out of the equation entirely; Christie did not talk about Cruz in his endorsement of Trump, but instead attacked Rubio, seeming to cast Rubio as Trump’s sole remaining rival. In recent weeks, he has hardened his position on immigration and joined Trump in calling Cruz a liar.

The Christie announcement was followed by a almost hour long rally in Fort Worth where Mr. Trump openly mocked his competition including Florida Sen. He is a good friend.

Christie is the first of Trump’s opponents to back him and the first establishment endorsement – important for Trump at a time when the establishment was finally starting to coalesce around another candidate, Marco Rubio.

2016 presidential candidate Marco Rubio.

Alexandra Rosenmann is an AlterNet associate editor.

Retired Fort Worth policeman and Vietnam veteran Alton Wilkerson said Trump, despite what critics say, is inclusive. He dropped out of the presidential race after poor showings in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. But that’s in the past, Doherty said, predicting the state party would get behind Trump. “But I don’t anticipate voting for Donald Trump”.

As for Cruz, Trump took a more personal tack in the debate, saying: “You get along with nobody….”

He said the only way to explain the tweets is “that’s how they spell at the Wharton School of Business”, at the University of Pennsylvania, where Mr Trump attended, or “he must have hired a foreign worker to do his own tweets”.

It was the same tactic Rubio used against Trump in Thursday night’s debate, as he forced the billionaire to repeat the same talking points to describe a health care plan thin on detail. The broadsides clearly irritated Trump and threatened to provide Rubio with a jolt of new momentum as he seeks to turn the contest into a two-man race.