(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . From ‘Little Marco’ to Trump VP hopeful: How did Rubio fall so far? [1] ['Daily Kos Staff'] Date: 2024-06-23 Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is widely considered to be among the top contenders vying to be Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate this November. The biggest question is … why? Depending on how you measure it, Rubio isn’t as big a sycophant as Sen. Ted Cruz. And that’s the list of what’s good about Rubio. He’s still willing to act as a mouthpiece for Trump, even when defending the most egregious statements. He’s still standard filler on networks that are seeking a Republican who will appear between more important speakers without threatening to make anything that looks like news. He’s willing to help Trump prep for his upcoming debate, presumably by allowing Trump to hone his insults. But the Marco Rubio of 2024 seems like a sad shadow of the man who was actually at the center of his party a few years ago. Trump’s biggest reason for keeping him close might just be the joy he finds in lording over broken enemies. Rubio was elected to the House when he was just 29 years old, and he made the move to the Senate when he was 40. Just two years later, Time Magazine put him on the cover, calling him “the Republican Savior” and “the new voice of the GOP.” This was at a time when the Republican National Convention had just finished an “autopsy” of its failures in the last two election cycles at the direction of Chair Reince Priebus. The plan called for a massive outreach to underserved communities across the country—showing that the party cares about the needs of Hispanic, Black, Asian, and LGBTQ+ Americans—and developing a plan for comprehensive immigration reform. Rubio was the new face of that new GOP, which put him in front of the cameras in 2013 to give the party’s response to Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. Rubio’s interrupting his speech to take a drink from a water bottle might have helped him become a punchline in his first big national appearance, but that wasn’t the end of his career. As Politico reported earlier this month, there was a moment in 2016 when the GOP described by Priebus still seemed possible. On a South Carolina stage, young presidential candidate Rubio stepped up to hug young Republican Gov. Nikki Haley. The governor praised Rubio as someone who would “work for all the people” and would show immigrants that they were right to come to the U.S. When Rubio took the stage, he said that Haley “embodies for me everything that I want the Republican Party and the conservative movement to be.” The next day, Rubio and Haley were joined on stage by the person Haley had just selected to fill an open Senate seat: Tim Scott. NPR ran an image of the three, calling it the “the stuff GOP dreams are made of.” Then that diverse, youthful party fell to a man who was 25 years older than Rubio preaching a gospel that was hostile to immigrants, ignorant to Black people’s concerns, and demonizing of the LGBTQ+ community. From there, the Republican Party went in the direction of violent white nationalism backed by policies of hate. And Rubio, Haley, and Scott went along for the ride. At 53, Rubio is still relatively young, at least when compared to Trump, but he’s no longer seen as a savior. He’s just another guy who got outmaneuvered by a political newcomer who stole his party and left him on the sidelines. Rubio isn’t celebrated by the MAGA faithful. He’s not moving his party in new directions or even in old ones. Like many senators, Rubio seems to spend his time determining how to stay relevant in a party that made a 180-degree turn from what he was advocating for when he climbed on a stage to debate with a ridiculous guy in orange makeup who called him “Little Marco.” Lately, Rubio has had to defend Trump’s darkest impulses. That includes nodding along when Trump repeats Nazi slogans about immigrants “poisoning the blood” of the nation. “I believe that when he speaks that way, what he’s saying is that this is a danger to the country,” Rubio said. “He’s not talking in an ethnic or racial way.” Sure. Because who would take a statement about “blood” as if it had something to do with race? Rubio was also one of the first senators to buy into Trump’s Operation Wetback 2.0 plans for mass deportation of immigrants. As ABC News puts it, “Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who was once a champion of immigration reform, recently reversed his stance to support Trump's deportation plan.” Of everything Rubio can offer to Trump, this is probably the biggest: Having a Cuban American’s stamp of approval on his Latino pogrom. Of course, there’s also the enjoyment Trump gets from seeing one of his former opponents so thoroughly defeated. Rubio appears tired, beaten, and lacking in the enthusiasm and ambition that once seemed to mark him out. Trump called Rubio “little.” But the person who has made him genuinely small is Marco Rubio. 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