Former President Donald Trump is expanding rather than narrowing his list of possible vice presidential picks, with the rival he once ridiculed as “Little Marco” joining the line.
Trump and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio exchanged memorable comments about the campaign process during the 2016 election — with Rubio mocking the size of Trump’s hands and Trump insulting the 6-foot-2 Rubio for his build.
Now leading President Joe Biden in the polls, Rubio has emerged as a potential Trump running mate — or at least someone to be included on the growing list.
It comes after a New York Times/Siena College poll showed Trump leading President Joe Biden among Hispanic voters 46 to 40.
Rubio, whose parents were born in Cuba, serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and occupies a spot in the establishment wing of the Republican Party, appearing on network Sunday shows and traveling to troubled areas.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has been mentioned as a potential running mate for Donald Trump. The two men clashed during the 2016 campaign
Trump sources have said the former president has expressed interest in a potential Latin American running mate.
“It’s pretty clear from Trump’s position that Rubio is in play,” a senior Florida aide told NBC News, which reported that Rubio is “moving up on the list.”
Rubio is generally part of his party’s internationalist wing and has supported U.S. aid to Ukraine. But he has also called for this to be linked to strengthening border protection, and this month spoke about the prospects for a negotiated settlement with Russia.
‘So then the question becomes: if there is actually a negotiated settlement, who has the power here? Is it going to be Putin or is it going to be Ukraine, and I want Ukraine to have the greatest possible influence when the time comes for those talks,” he said.
Rubio has also gone public lately accounts of people who could fill it important roles in a possible second term, in the case of Rubio’s national security posts.
The three-term Rubio generally functioned as a Trump loyalist during Trump’s term. He voted to acquit Trump during his first and second impeachment proceedings.
Former President Donald Trump is putting together a long list of potential running mates
Rubio insulted the size of Trump’s hands during the 2016 campaign. Trump called him ‘Little Marco’
“I voted to acquit former President Trump because I will not allow my anger over the January 6 criminal attack nor the political intimidation of the left to cause me to support a dangerous constitutional precedent,” Rubio said in a statement on the second impeachment. came after January 6.
‘The elections are over. There is a new president in the White House and a new Congress has been sworn in. Let history, and if necessary the courts, judge the events of the past.’
But the two exchanged memorable attacks during the campaign, with Trump repeatedly labeling him as “Little Marco” in a race in which he insulted most of his rivals. At one point, Rubio brought up decades-old attacks on the size of Trump’s hands, which were said to have infuriated him.
‘He always calls me Little Marco. And I admit he’s bigger than me. He’s about 6 feet tall, so I don’t understand why his hands are as big as someone who’s 6 feet tall,” Rubio said during his campaign in Virginia. And you know what they say about men with small hands? You can’t trust them.’
As a result, Trump had to defend his masculinity during a debate.
“Look at those hands, are they little hands?” Trump asked as he showed them off. ‘And he referred to my hands: “If they’re small, something else must be small.” I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee it,” Trump said.
There is a legal hurdle to overcome: the Constitution prohibits electors from casting votes for a president and vice president who are from the same state. Trump changed his residence from New York to Florida with lower taxes during his term in office.
Republicans found their way into a similar problem in 2000 when Dick Cheney changed his residency from Texas to Wyoming and teamed up with George W. Bush.
“The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two persons, one of whom at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves,” the constitution says.
