Rubio taunts Trump, prepares for primary at Dallas rally

“See those cameras back there? This is being shown to the whole world!”

DALLAS- At 9 a.m. on Friday at Klyde Warren Park, a mother held her son in the middle of a large crowd, motioning to a blockade of reporters behind them. The woman was one of 500 attendees at Florida Senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio’s Dallas rally, and with the biggest Republican primary just four days away, America would be watching.

When Rubio arrived nearly an hour late, the crowd didn’t seem to mind. A fresh wave of cheers echoed through the park when the Republican candidate mentioned Tuesday’s upcoming primary and his conservative platform.

It took less than two minutes on stage for Rubio to turn his attention toward another Republican candidate, who just a city away was setting up for his own rally.

Donald Trump, hosting his own Fort Worth rally on Friday, would be on the receiving end of numerous strong statements made by Rubio.

“It’s time to pull his mask off, so people can really see what we are dealing with here,” Rubio said. “What we are dealing with here, my friends, is a con artist.”

His words were drowned out by cheers and chants such as “Trump trash” from the crowd.

Roars of laughter sounded when Rubio claimed that if Trump had not inherited $2 million, he would be selling watches in Time Square or doing Saturday Morning infomercials.

The laughter grew when Rubio began to read a series of Trump’s tweets, filled with erroneous spelling and alleged fallacies.

“He called me ‘Mr. Meltdown,’” Rubio said. “Let me tell you something, during the debate last night, during two of the breaks, he went backstage, he was having a meltdown. First he had a little make up thing, he had one of those sweat mustaches, then he asked for a full length mirror, maybe he wanted to make sure his pants weren’t wet.”

After 10 minutes of calling out Trump for his failed businesses and fraud, Rubio targeted candidates from the Democratic party.

“We can not nominate someone who is going to get shredded to pieces because the consequences are Bernie Sanders, a socialist, or Hillary Clinton, someone who is unqualified to be commander-in-chief,” Rubio said.

Along with his promise to unite the conservative movement, Rubio dove into what changes he would implement if he were to take office.

“If you elect me president, for the first time in eight years, you will have a president who protects and defends and follows the Constitution of the United States of America,” Rubio said.

He claimed that on his first day in the Oval Office, he plans to repeal “every single one” of President Barack Obama’s “unconstitutional executive orders.”

Rubio also emphasized policies he would take on in office, such as freedom of religion, loose gun laws, limited federal government, more power to state governments, strict interpretation of the constitution, and free enterprise.

He then turned his focus away from the “failed commander and chief” and toward global issues.

“The world is a very dangerous place right now, more dangerous than it was seven years ago,” Rubio said. “You have a lunatic in North Korea, with Nuclear Weapons and long range rockets, the Chinese government hacks our computers, steals our inventions, and is massively building up their military. Radical islamic jihadists are spreading throughout the world.”

Rubio then claimed if he were to become president, he would “undertake a Reagan Style rebuilding of the United States military” to combat these threats.

On a military note, Rubio opposed Obama’s efforts to shut down the maximum security Guantanamo Bay prison, which is currently a buzzing topic in the media.

“Barack Obama is trying to close Guantanamo, even though he knows that about 30 percent of the people he’s released from there have gone right back to terrorism,” Rubio said. “You elect me president, we are going to have a real war on terror.”

Rubio recognized his current status as an “underdog” in the campaign, a term familiar to him because of the struggles his parents, who were immigrants from Cuba, faced.

“I’ve been an underdog my whole life,” Rubio said. “My parents did not have political connections and they did not have money. Ten years after they came here with nothing, they bought their first home in a safe and stable neighborhood.”

Like his own parents, Rubio recognized the millions of other American immigrants who worked to make a life for themselves and a future for their children.

“This this the American dream,” Rubio said. “It happened because the Americans who came before us did what they needed to do. Now the moment has arrived for this generation to do it’s part.”

Rubio concluded his rally with an emphatic call to action, painting a picture of what history books would read years after his presidency.

“If I am President of the United States of America, let me rephrase that, when I am President of the United States of America, you will have a president for all Americans,” Rubio said. “When I’m president, we will leave for our children the single greatest nation in the history of all of mankind.”

After the crowd dispersed, a few dedicated Rubio fans stayed behind. One of which was Melissa Murnane, who came to the rally with her son.

“I think for me personally, he’s the candidate that represents my personal values, but for the Republican party as a whole, he’s our best option,” Murnane said.

Although a fan of Rubio, she wasn’t quite on board with what he had to say in regards to other candidates at the beginning of the rally.

“I personally don’t like a lot of the negative, and I understand they have to do that, especially for Donald Trump,” Murnane said. “I think he could have maybe cut it a little more brief.”

However during Rubio’s taunts at the millionaire, rallier Christian Filsouf was among those laughing in the crowd.

“I thought that was completely valid,” Filsouf said. “I think Donald Trump has such an attitude for being so belligerent and so maleficent. I think Marco is finally getting tough skin and starting to punch back, which is nice.”

Filsouf being a dedicated follower of politics and supporter of Rubio, thinks the rally was good for the candidate in regards to the upcoming primary.
“I think he was able to make a great impact,” Filsouf said. “Texas voters really value a conservative guy. In previous years he’s been considered to be a more moderate republican,  and today he definitely established his credibility as a serious conservative.”