Marco Rubio enters Nevada caucus as GOP's anointed anti-Donald Trump
There are five Republicans still in the presidential race, but on Monday, several prominent Republicans portrayed it as a two-man contest between Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio. With establishment stalwart Jeb Bush out of the race, Rubio notched several high-profile endorsements heading into Tuesday's GOP caucus in Nevada, and both Rubio and Trump took advantage of Sen. Ted Cruz's firing of his campaign spokesman to reiterate their charge that Cruz relies on dirty tricks.
Trump is expected to win the Nevada contest, and polls put him ahead in the majority of Super Tuesday primary states. GOP insiders are resigned to Trump triumphing on March 1, Byron York reports at The Washington Examiner, and the party has decided it has three weeks to narrow this down to a two-person race and stall Trump's momentum. "It's a risky strategy, but it's all the establishment has at this point," York says. So they are building up Rubio, who has notched 12 endorsements from governors or members of Congress since Friday, versus zero for Trump or Cruz.
"Make no mistake, this is a two-man race," Sen. Dean Heller (Nevada) told a Rubio rally in Reno on Monday. "This is between the Donald and Marco Rubio." House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy made a similar argument on MSNBC. Former Sen. Bob Dole, the GOP's 1996 presidential candidate, said Monday he had switched his endorsement from Bush to Rubio because Rubio "wants to grow the party as opposed to Cruz. I don't know what he wants to grow." Endorsements didn't seem to help Bush, however. If Trump continues to run against a divided field, the GOP nomination is widely believed to be his for the taking. And time is running out.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Political cartoons for January 19Cartoons Monday's political cartoons include Greenland tariffs, fighting the Fed, and more
-
Spain’s deadly high-speed train crashThe Explainer The country experienced its worst rail accident since 2013, with the death toll of 39 ‘not yet final’
-
Can Starmer continue to walk the Trump tightrope?Today's Big Question PM condemns US tariff threat but is less confrontational than some European allies
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
