Let me get this? Donald Trump picked the guy who called him "Little Hitler"- did Trump think this was a compliment?

Poor little Marco Rubio took insults, ate crow. Opinion published in the Orlando Sentinel by Scott Maxwell.....

But, Trump chose Vance instead

Trump’s selection of JD Vance as his running mate made sense. Vance is a best-selling hillbilly book author, an enlisted Marine who achieved the rank of corporal after serving four years, is a Yale-educated attorney and right wing GOP star.

Still, Trump’s selection was also a dagger through the heart of the political aspirations for one Florida Man — U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio.

Few politicians have so thoroughly capitulated and subjugated themselves to Trump in the hopes of advancing their own political careers than poor little Marco.

Eight years ago, Rubio called Trump “the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency.” Rubio said Trump was a “con artist” who was too “dangerous” and “erratic” to be entrusted with nuclear codes. Marco mocked Trump for his terrible spelling, his orange makeup, his failed businesses, said he may have pee'd in his pants during a debate, said he was too old, hired migrants, and is a con artist. https://t.co/hPLmoXPFTS pic.twitter.com/Iie3z6cpVU

But then Trump won the nomination. And Rubio changed his tone. That might not have been a surprise for former opponents. But then, when it became clear Trump would run again this year — and need a running mate — Rubio completed his metamorphosis from vocal critic to full-throated adulator.

Trump had famously branded Rubio as “Little Marco,” calling him a “lightweight” and “basket case” who was “all talk and no action.” Yet with Rubio desperate for new political life, he ate every plate of crow Trump served him and then asked for more.

“We elect this man as president, we will make America greater than it has ever been,” Rubio told a crowd last week when he still thought he had a chance to be Trump’s No. 2.

Other Republicans, like Mitt Romney and Senator John McCain, didn’t care if Trump held political sway. They stuck to their guns — and their beliefs. But Rubio was willing to say anything to move ahead. Suddenly the guy who used to describe Trump as a dangerous and tawdry charlatan was telling anyone who’d listen that Trump was the only person fit to lead this country.

Yet it was all for naught. Trump chose the much less qualified right wing hillbilly JD Vance.

Now, Vance also said critical things about Trump during his first campaign, once wondering if Trump was either “a cynical a**hole” or “America’s Hitler.” (IMO- Trump took this Nazi slur to be a compliment!) But Trump and his advisers saw things in Vance they didn’t see in Rubio.

First, he’s from a swing state and region and well-liked within his party. Perhaps more significant, though, Team Trumpzi seemed to believe that Vance’s evolution from Trump-basher to Trump-supporter was authentic. 

Unlike Rubio, who seemed to be nakedly pandering.😕😒
(Maine Writer- IMO Trump's campaign did not want a qualified politician to be the President in Waiting- too threatening.....too much like former VP Mike Pence.)

That’s the lesson that Rubio never seems to learn — that a man who tries to be everything to everyone ends up respected by no one.

The most illustrative proof came early in Rubio’s Senate career when he was part of a bipartisan group of senators who decided to draft a bill to address one of America’s most complicated problems — immigration reform.

The group dubbed themselves “The Gang of Eight” and ultimately produced a reform plan that was thoughtful, comprehensive and full of compromise. As such, it drew criticism from hard-liners on both the left and the right.

And when things got tough, Rubio bailed. He not only backed away from his reform proposal, he said he wouldn’t vote for it.

If Rubio thought he was solving a problem, he was wrong. His turncoat behavior only intensified the criticism. When fellow “Gang” member McCain was asked about Rubio, he responded: “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” And the leader of an immigration reform group on the left said Rubio “will always be known as the guy who stood up for something he seemed to believe in and backed down when it was politically convenient to do so.”

That’s just not a guy you want in the trenches with you. At least that’s what Donald Trump concluded.

Vance also had something in common with Trump in that the two men have never been part of the GOP insiders’ club. Vance doesn’t have core beliefs that neatly follow the party lines, since he has supported labor unions and higher minimum wages. Whereas some wonder whether Rubio has any core beliefs at all❓

There were also questions about the constitutionality of having two people from the same state on the same presidential ticket. But most experts downplayed those concerns, especially since one of the men could simply move.

The bigger issue seems to be a belief that Vance simply does more to help Trump — a point even Rubio seemed resigned to acknowledge Monday when he celebrated his own rejection, 😜 calling the 39-year-old Vance “a fantastic choice … an incredibly intelligent and talented man who is completely committed to making America great again.” (IOW, Vance is a blindly loyal right wing Trumpzi.)

There’s still a chance Rubio could snag a role in Trump’s Cabinet if Trump wins in November. And he’s probably secure in his Florida Senate seat for as long as he wants. Republicans may like Trump a lot more than Rubio. But they’ll take Rubio over any Democrat.

Maybe Rubio will learn from his most recent rejection that it rarely pays to change stripes so often; that the men and women most fondly remembered in politics are the ones who stick to their guns, even when it’s inconvenient.

More likely, though, is that Rubio just keeps being the same guy who Senator John McCain described as a human weathervane, from his immigration-flipping in 2013, to his Trump-flopping in 2024. Only maybe this time it gets him a consolation prize appointment.