Discussion: Rubio: Trump Doesn't Understand The Issues He's Talking About

Discussion for article #242142

…and you and the thundering herd of elephants do, Marco?

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“To this point in the campaign he’s not proven an understanding of these issues or the preparation necessary to be the commander in chief of the most powerful military force in the world,” Rubio said.

Because to the GOP, that’s the only purpose of the Presidency. Rubio has been running hard all campaign to take the mantle as the neocon candidate. But he is going to get taken out at the knees on everything else.

My guess on the upcoming debate dynamic is, Trump more or less focuses on Carson, who likewise will probably be a bit more aggressive at attacking Trump. Cruz is going to Rubio target #1, content in letting Carson and Trump swat at each other. Rubio will be easily baited into arguments with Cruz, and trying to insert himself into the Trump/Carson discussions. Everyone else will be pulling a Webb, clamoring for more attention…including Bush.

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Cue The Donald’s brutal Twitter-based anti-Rubio blitzkrieg in 3…2…1…

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The same could be said of Rubio, perhaps more accurately.

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Rubio’s positions are mostly awful and his own knowledge dubious but I suspect he realizes, as well as anyone, that the Donald can be manipulated. His first tactic was to talk about Trump dismissively, as a person of little importance, which is pretty shrewd psyops—it makes Trump crazy. Now he’s saying maybe Trump can be tall enough to ride this ride if he learns more about the issues. Puts Trump on the defensive and makes him play his weakest cards—he doesn’t know jack about any issue or aspect of governance whatsoever, and when he tries to pretend he does it’s laughable. Like I said, no love for Rubio here but unlike Jebbers he seems at least to be thinking like a fighter rather than a frat boy shocked to be denied his entitled spot in the pecking order.

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Do you think Rubio is this clever?

Don’t know much about him, honestly, but being manipulative and domineering isn’t necessarily associated with any outstanding intellectual ability. Some people just have a gut sense of how to play this stuff.

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Rubiio, the afraid of his own shadow candidate.

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It’s a good time for Trump’s pivot back to immigration.

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@bdtex
tRump could certainly threaten to have a guy in a red shirt drag Rube out of a room.

Sounds like it’ll be a Lord of the Flies reenactment on Wednesday, and those little monsters didn’t care about the issues either.

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“And I don’t vote on the issues I pretend to know about,” Mr. Rubio added in an unhcaracteristic bit of candor.

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Blair’s admission of making a mistake on Iraq is sure to cause more awkward moments for JEB and neocons Rubio and Cruz.

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Maybe you are giving him too much credit. But you may be correct

Who knows? Not me. :slight_smile: That’s why I always use weasel words such as “suspect” and “seems.”

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“Rubio: Trump Doesn’t Understand The Issues He’s Talking About”

And you do Marco ?

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J;

Mr Rubio

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Your kidding, right? Blair is one of those pansy assed Europeans. Who cares what he thinks? /snark

Seriously though, its not just the bubble of neocons. The press is still carrying the water on the Iraq War…they continue to act like Trump pointing out two facts…1) Bush was President on 9/11/2001 and 2) The Twin Towers were attacked and fell on that day…are some sort of extreme heresy. How dare he say something so outlandish?

Its even more amazing, that of all the actual outlandish things Trump says, the media is locking on to the one actually true thing he says and getting a case of the vapors.

I was just flipping through and saw CNN’s “Reliable Sources”, and Brian Setzer is acting like Trump is getting really down and dirty, hitting below the belt, for daring to mention two actual facts. Just one more reason why that should should be cancelled immediately. The only thing it proves is how completely lacking in self awareness the media truly is. The very notion of a “news show” to make the media the news is nuts. One of the cardinal rules of journalism used to be “the journalist is never part of the story”. Now, they have entire shows dedicated to making them the ONLY story.

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Well said! Yes, I do agree cleverness isn’t directly associated with overall intelligence.

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“I don’t believe that up to this point in the campaign he’s clearly outlined a deep understanding of the issues before this country in a serious way,” Rubio said. “And obviously he has time to change that. We have more debates coming up.”

On the rare occasion, I do agree that Trump is way to shallow to understand many issues. Yet, I do think Rubio does, but is such a cynical, Republican way, he parses (lies!) his most extreme positions in public since he’s just smart enough to realize his true stances on most issues won’t play well in the general election. And that’s why IMO he’s far more dangerous as a candidate than either Trump or Carson.

I’d like to see a written comparison of his publically stated ideas and positions versus his voting record, plus statements made on the Senate floor. I do believe this would offer contrast as to his deviousness, unlike Trump who wears his wildest thoughts on his sleeve in his everyday “Trumpisms”.

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