Two weeks ago, Chris Christie burned Rubio worse than I’ve ever seen anyone get burned in a semi-professional setting before. It arguably cost Rubio several points in New Hampshire and inarguably birthed the MarcoBot meme.
Tonight, though, Rubio is in charge. He’s dominating the discussion and has a petulant Trump on his back foot. That alone has redeemed him from the shame he suffered at the hands of Christie, but Rubio took it one step further. In a discussion about health care, he got Trump to fall into the same trap that he fell into in South Carolina. A play in one act:
Rubio: Your only thing is to get rid of the lines around the states. What else is your plan?
Trump: You’ll get rid of the lines...
Rubio: That’s the only part of the plan? Just the lines?
Trump: You’ll have many different plans. You’ll have competition. It’ll be beautiful.
Rubio: Now he’s repeating himself.
Trump: I watched him repeat himself five time two weeks ago!
Rubio: I watched him repeat himself five times five second ago!
Rubio: He says five things. Everyone’s dumb. He’s gonna make America great again, we’re gonna win win win, and the lines around the states.