After a disappointing fifth place finish following the New Hampshire primary election, pro-life Florida Senator Marco Rubio today is renewing and restating his campaign in an effort to bounce back in South Carolina.
In a new interview, he immediately went after businessman Donald Trump, who finished first in new Hampshire and is running as a pro-life candidate. Rubio says Trump will not be the nominee and took a swipe at him on policy saying Trump just tells voters what they want to hear.
Here’s the transcript of a new interview with Matt Lauer:
Host Matt Lauer asked, “You saw the margin of victory for Donald Trump. John Kasich had a good night. In your heart, do you think anyone can get Donald Trump from getting the nomination right now?”
Rubio said, “Sure, Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee. New Hampshire has been a state badly hurt by losing jobs to China, closing of mills, loss of manufacturing base and Donald Trump tapped into that. That’s an important topic and needs to be discussed, without a doubt. But ultimately to be president, you can’t go around telling people what’s wrong you have to tell people how you’re going to fix it. We just had a conversation about depth. Where is the policy idea about how we’re going to bring manufacturing back? It’s not enough to say you’re going to do it. Voters need to know how you’re going to do it. I don’t know how you continue to run a campaign from South Carolina and beyond without specifically outlining policy ideas on these issues … I can tell you we have a plan. I know exactly how we’ll bring manufacturing back. That’s why we need energy reform. That’s why we need tax reform. Our tax code here is among the most expensive in the industrialized world. That’s why we need regulatory reform. They put Americans at a disadvantage competitively globally. There’s going to be a real focus on policy and we’ll see how people step up. They have to step up and outline their solutions to these problems.”
The comments about Trump and policy specifics come as some pro-life voters have questions about where he stands on abortion.
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Some pro-life voters have questioned if Trump is truly pro-life, despite proclamations from Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin that his pro-life conversion is authentic.
Since his conversion, Trump doesn’t appear to have promoted abortion and continues to say he is pro-life and opposed to funding the Planned Parenthood abortion business. But, in early February, when asked on the campaign trail to provide more specifics about the kind of abortion policies he would implement as president, he declined to give any specifics.
Instead, he repeated what he has say countless times before that he is pro-life on abortion but without providing any further details about what he would do on a myriad of pro-life issues he will face as president — most notably naming judges to the Supreme Court who will determine the abortion policy for the nation for decades to come.
The lack of specifics has already caused a group of leading pro-life women to encourage pro-life voters not to vote for Trump.
In a letter provided to LifeNews, the group of pro-life women leaders claim Trump is not trustworthy on the abortion issue because offhanded comments he’s made make it appear he supports pro-abortion judges on the Supreme Court or a pro-abortion vice-presidential running mate. The group includes heavy hitters like Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List and Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America and black pro-life activist Star Parker.
The letter comes after an op-ed Trump wrote over the weekend outlining his pro-life views on abortion.
Trump opens the column explaining that he is pro-life with exceptions only for the very rarest abortions.
“Let me be clear — I am pro-life. I support that position with exceptions allowed for rape, incest or the life of the mother being at risk,” he said. “I did not always hold this position, but I had a significant personal experience that brought the precious gift of life into perspective for me.”
Trump said America has gone astray because it has moved away from the founding principles the nation’s founders put in most — most notably the right to life.
During the last Republican debate, Marco Rubio outlined his clear prolife position.
“On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It’s a human rights issue and it’s a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right,’ Rubio said. “And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they’re in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life.”
“I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws,” Rubio said. “I’ve already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life.”
