Sen. Marco Rubio told Alabamians the Republican Party is in a fight for the conservative movement.
Rubio said Donald Trump is pulling a “con job” on the Republican Party.
Rubio made the comments at Samford University's Wright Center for a presidential candidate forum hosted by the conservative website Yellowhammer News on Saturday, Feb. 27.
“What’s at stake is the party of Lincoln and Reagan,” Rubio said.
Rubio said politicians making the same promises every election year but never delivering has led to frustration about the direction of the country.
“What we cannot allow is for that frustration to be used against us or manipulated,” Rubio said. “Because what is at stake is not just the identity of America. What is at stake is the conservative movement itself.”
Rubio said the conservative movement is based on the principles that made America the greatest in the history of mankind, and that Trump threatens those principles.
“I’m not going to stand by and watch the conservative movement be taken over by someone who is not a conservative,” Rubio said.
Americans are being fooled by Trump, according to Rubio.
“When someone is upset, when someone is uncertain about the future, when someone is insecure about what’s going on, you become vulnerable to people that come to you and say, ‘Give me the power, and I’m going to turn your life around,’” Rubio said. “That’s how con jobs work.”
Rubio said Trump pulled a con job with Trump University, which was Trump’s failed private college company that has become a point of attack from his opponents since the Republican debate Thursday, Feb. 25.
“That’s just one small-scale example,” Rubio said. “And they got nothing in return but a picture on a cardboard cutout with Donald Trump.”
Trump tweeted during Rubio’s speech that Rubio was telling lies.
“Just watched lightweight Marco Rubio lying to a small crowd about my past record,” Trump said on Twitter. “He is not as smart as [Sen. Ted] Cruz, and may be an even bigger liar.”
Just watched lightweight Marco Rubio lying to a small crowd about my past record. He is not as smart as Cruz, and may be an even bigger liar
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 27, 2016
Rubio said Trump was not honest about his stance on immigration and bringing jobs to America because Trump’s own companies are outsourcing workers to foreign countries.
“It proves that this is a con job, and we cannot let the conservative movement be taken away from us,” Rubio said.
Rubio said the Democrats will rip Trump apart in the general election.
Trump will be making a stop in Alabama on Sunday, Feb. 28, in Huntsville.
Rubio also attacked the Democrats during his remarks, calling Sanders a socialist and slamming former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her handling of the Benghazi terrorist attacks in 2012.
“(Clinton) is disqualified from being commander-in-chief,” Rubio said. “Because on the 11th of September of 2012, four Americans died in Benghazi, and she told their families that they died because of a movie. And she knew they died because of a terrorist attack. Anybody who lies to the family of Americans who’ve lost their lives serving our country can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America.”
The timeline of what Clinton and the Obama administration knew and publicly said at the time has been an issue of contention for Republicans.
Clinton was also in Birmingham on Thursday.
Rubio drew a standing ovation when he finished his remarks at the Wright Center before he headed to his next Alabama appearance in Huntsville.
“Now is the time come for us to define (the conservative movement) once again for a new generation of Americans, especially after the eight years of Barack Obama,” Rubio said. “If we get this election wrong, we will lose the conservative movement, and we will lose the future of this country.”
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