Marco Rubio said a thing and here's a headline that implies something that wasn't the thing he said.
— Brodigan Strong Style (@brodigan) April 29, 2016
This afternoon, Twitter erupted over news that Marco Rubio was “warming up to Donald Trump.” Could that be true? After all he’s been through and fought for, how could he possibly warm up to Trump?
JUST IN: Rubio warms to Trump: He's "improved significantly" https://t.co/rHrGd7y8bm pic.twitter.com/o5tQcZ28C6
— The Hill (@thehill) April 29, 2016
This guy is such a slime bucket https://t.co/Junxf73rn6
— Linette Lopez (@lopezlinette) April 29, 2016
Marco Rubio goes from #NeverTrump to Ready for Trump https://t.co/HQnEmjRNv9
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) April 29, 2016
Witness as Marco Rubio abandons the principles he'd expounded when he was a GOP candidate: https://t.co/4iAyhVhazr pic.twitter.com/LVNt2I1aBr
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) April 29, 2016
At HotAir, Allahpundit writes:
W-w-w-what? Marco Rubio, who gave the most stirring anti-Trump statement of the campaign impromptu at a press conference just six weeks ago now wants to throw in the towel before the primaries are over? The only chance conservatives have of stopping Trump is on the second ballot at the convention, and now the guy who went around calling him a con man for weeks thinks we can’t risk having people get angry by denying him the party’s support? W-w-w-w-w-w-w-what? Is Marco going to introduce Trump at the convention? Are we — my God — looking at a Trump/Rubio ticket perchance?
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The answer to that is: No. At least not based on anything Rubio’s actually said.
More from Allahpundit:
So I tracked down audio of the quote. It turns out he said this on a radio show more than a week ago. Breitbart picked it up a few days later, emphasizing the same “Let’s not divide the party” bit that the Tampa Bay Times seized on, which makes it sound like Rubio was articulating his own personal opinion. But he wasn’t. Listen to the audio below, starting at around 5:40, and you’ll see that he’s presenting this as an argument that Team Trump could (and will) make to the delegates, not an argument that Rubio thinks should prevail.
…
Pretty clear once you see the whole quote. Rubio is warming to Trump in some ways, reiterating elsewhere in the clip that he’ll support the nominee against Hillary, but he’s not arguing against a contested convention. What probably happened is that the writer of the Tampa Bay Times pieces went looking for material online to support his “Rubio’s caving to Trump” thesis, found the Breitbart piece, and reproduced the quote verbatim without checking the original audio. Turns out Rubio’s still open to deciding the nomination on the convention floor. And why wouldn’t he be? That’s the point of keeping his delegates bound to him on the first ballot — to keep them away from Trump in case he needs a few to clinch.
Deleting my original tweet linking to the Rubio TBT article—I’ve posted the audio/full context and he wasn’t endorsing the Trump argument.
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) April 29, 2016
Full context of Rubio's quote suggests he's describing—without endorsing—Trump's argument (starts around 5:30 mark). https://t.co/L3vkOvwMD9
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) April 29, 2016
Okay, here’s the Rubio quote at 5:40. He’s saying *it could be argued* that delegates should follow the popular vote https://t.co/DKrkHT6onx
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) April 29, 2016
Here’s what Rubio actually said about a convention https://t.co/lEO2q4EEBL pic.twitter.com/w5VJkQkvyB
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) April 29, 2016
He does not sound like he’s ready to jump aboard the Trump Train.
People are taking Rubio's remarks BADLY out of context. He actually defends the delegates' right to bypass Trump. https://t.co/2rku8n4dHz
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) April 29, 2016
Not especially close to what was originally reported. https://t.co/syKvDhOhr7
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) April 29, 2016
https://twitter.com/LilMissRightie/status/726140648814948352
I listened to the ENTIRE interview. No, Rubio isn’t warming to Trump and no, he won’t accept a VP offer from him. https://t.co/Hch8UzKbV9
— Demetrius Minor (@dminor85) April 29, 2016
@thehill
Stop taking people out of context. Go back and read, or listen to the whole thing…— ?? David Williams ?? (@dwilli539) April 29, 2016
@thehill This is false.
— Caique Parrot (@ParrotCaique) April 29, 2016
Context is everything.
@thehill you should really look at the entire context of quotes before you publish garbage like this
— elise navidad ? (@elisecterry) April 29, 2016
@NYMag dishonest media taking quote out of context. Sad!
— Jim Thomas (@Jt856) April 29, 2016
Rubio did not say that and you just took a giant crap on whatever little integrity you still had https://t.co/NcPCumSDwp
— PoliMath (@politicalmath) April 29, 2016
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with an additional tweet.
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