Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” when asked about his jokes about the size of his opponents Donald Trumps hands, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said it was his objective “to stand up and punch them back.”
Partial transcript as follows:
BASH: I want to put my parent hat on for a second. I’m the mother of a 4-year-old son, and I’m having trouble letting him watch the news because things have gotten so vulgar and so over the top that I don’t want him to think that it’s okay to act like that. And I’m not alone. I know a lot of people have said that. How do you feel as a father and a presidential candidate about how low things have gone?
RUBIO: Well, I mean, no, but I’ll tell you, this is related to the real question. I am glad you asked it. My kids were with me on the campaign trail a lot from New Hampshire, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina. Every day when I woke up, I was glad they were there not just because they’re my kids, but it reminded me of this is what it’s one of the things you asked me, about. I don’t want us to have a president that we constantly have to be explaining to our kids, look, I know that’s what the president did, but you shouldn’t do that. I don’t want that. We actually had a president like that not long ago. It was bad.
BASH: But just to follow up, but the rhetoric has been — has been, I mean, I understand you’re saying that you are trying to answer him and some of the things that he has been saying, but, you know, I can’t explain to my kid about the — you’re talking about hands and things like that.
RUBIO: Donald Trump, he might have grown up the way he did with a lot of money and going to boarding schools. Where I grew up, if someone keeps punching someone in the face, eventually someone’s going to have to stand up and punch them back.
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