Speaking with the Guardian, the Florida senator – whose fate is sealed if he fails to win his home state Tuesday – said the billionaire is cultivating a party of fear

The Republican party will be consigned to the wilderness at November’s US presidential election “and beyond” if it chooses Donald Trump as its candidate, rival Marco Rubio has said.

In an interview with the Guardian on Monday evening, the Florida senator – whose fate is likely to be sealed if he fails to win his home state on Tuesday night – said the New York billionaire was an embarrassment who would not be respected around the world.

“If we’re going to be the party of fear, we’re going to spend some time in the wilderness,” Rubio said. “If we’re the party of fear, with a candidate who basically is trying to prey upon people’s fears to get them to vote for them, I think we’re going to pay a big price in November and beyond.”



If elected, Trump would not have the respect of allies around the globe, Rubio warned.

“I think he’s already an embarrassment,” Rubio said. “People around the world are watching this debate and this campaign and wondering what’s happening here, because the things he says are nonsensical.

“When you’re the most powerful and important nation on earth, you’re not always going to be popular,” he added. “But the question is, are you respected? And I don’t think Donald Trump is going to be respected.”

Rubio, faced with a do-or-die moment for his presidential ambitions, has grown sharper in his criticism of Trump in recent weeks both on the stump and in the Republican debates. But in the days before his home state will determine whether his campaign can continue, he also adopted a more reflective, and at times emotional, tone.

Speaking with the Guardian aboard his campaign bus in West Palm Beach, Rubio was visibly exasperated by what he felt would be a reckoning for the Republican party and conservative movement.

“You have all kinds of people that are lifelong conservatives, or at least claim to be, who don’t seem to care that Donald Trump has never been and is not now a conservative on principles,” he said. “And they’ve staked their reputation on their support of him.”

If any other Republican candidate were to assume Trump’s positions on the issues, he or she “would be characterized as a Rino [Republican in Name Only] by every major conservative outlet in America”, Rubio added.

“These are people that – whether it’s now or five years from now or two years from now or six months from now – are going to be explaining for a long time how they fell into this.”

The conversation occurred against the backdrop of what will be the greatest test of Rubio’s campaign: a winner-take-all contest in Florida that will award 99 delegates to the candidate who emerges on top. Trump, according to many recent polls, leads Rubio by double digits. While Rubio’s campaign has cited private polling showing a tighter race, aides privately concede a victory from behind on Tuesday would be a miracle.

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So far, Rubio has won 153 delegates to Texas senator Ted Cruz’s 369 and Trump’s 469, achieving victory only in Minnesota, Puerto Rico and DC. A total of 1,237 delegates are needed to win. Of the other states to vote on Tuesday, he is trailing in fourth in polls in Ohio, Illinois and North Carolina, and is third in Missouri.

If Rubio fails, it won’t be for a lack of trying. The senator barnstormed the vast corners of his home state over the past 10 days, speaking with an urgency that acknowledged both his longshot odds and the high stakes for the direction of the country.

“It always comes down to the state of Florida,” he told the crowds who gathered to see their native son speak in diners, school gymnasiums and at the park where he once played as a boy.

“Embrace leaders who do not ask you to give them your vote on fear and hopelessness,” Rubio implored. “Leadership is not inciting people to get angrier. That’s not leadership. You know what it is? That’s called demagoguery.”

He referred at times to the violent clashes that erupted at recent Trump rallies over the weekend, likening them to “third world images” that posed a threat to the republic. The impact of the scenes was such that Rubio, for the first time, said in a press conference on Saturday he no longer knew if he could commit to backing Trump as the Republican nominee.

Rubio told the Guardian he believed Trump was pursuing a strategy employed by strongman leaders that defied America’s founding values.

“He’s arguing that he himself is the singular figure that’s going to do these amazing things for the country. He’s asking us to basically make it a nation of a man instead of a nation of laws,” Rubio said.

“Our founders chose a very different form of government … We don’t have political messiahs in America and every nation that’s tried to find one has ended up finding that those people are fallible and make terrible mistakes. When you deposit that much faith and confidence in one individual you’re bound to be let down.”

The challenge for Rubio, or any candidate not named Trump, has nonetheless remained the faction of Republican primary voters who are inspired more by their frustration than by specific policies. Should the business mogul win in Florida and Ohio on Tuesday, he is all but certain to steamroll his way to the nomination.

The Democratic party faces a similar clarifying moment in its race on Tuesday, as Bernie Sanders continues to engage Hillary Clinton in a duel that could grow more protracted should he pull off wins in the midwest and the south. The Vermont senator has gained on Clinton in states such as Ohio, Illinois and Missouri, while the former secretary of state maintains wide leads in Florida and North Carolina.

A central premise of Rubio’s campaign has been that he would be the most formidable opponent for Clinton or any Democratic nominee. In a sign of his own fixation with the race, Rubio mentioned aboard his bus a new poll out that morning of the Democratic-leaning Pennsylvania. He was beating Clinton by eight points, he said, while Trump was trailing her by the same margin.

Rubio openly struggled to comprehend it, letting out a sigh and a shrug at the general election contest that may well remain a hypothetical for his candidacy.

“I don’t know how this is all going to end. This is uncharted territory,” he said. “But from my mind, the Republican party has a very important decision to make: Are we going to be the party of fear or the party of optimism?”



