GOP front-runner Donald Trump sent his Republican opponent Marco Rubio a care package on Monday to help the senator cool off.
The package included a case of “Trump Ice Natural Spring Water” bottles that have Trump’s face on them and “Make America Great Again” towels and bumper stickers. A note with the package said, “Since you’re always sweating, we thought you could use some water.”
Trump has previously commented on Rubio’s sweating habits, saying the senator sweats more than anyone he has seen.
“I’ve never seen a guy down water like he downs water,” Trump said, possibly poking fun at Rubio’s infamous sip of water during his response to President Obama’s State of the Union address in 2013.
Rubio responded to the gift on the ‘TODAY’ Show on Tuesday morning with a laugh.
“Apparently the water is very high quality water, it’s top notch water,” he said. “We’re grateful for the gift.”
He added that attacks like this happen when people are running for office.
“They’re looking for something that’s going give them a competitive advantage, and if they think talking bad about someone is going to give them that, then that’s what they’re going to do,” he said of Trump and others who have attacked him.
The Trump campaign released an ad Tuesday that says, “Never hire a boy to do a man’s job” with a picture of Rubio as a young boy. Trump also commented on his feud with Rubio on CNN on Tuesday by calling the senator “a total lightweight”
“He’s weak on immigration,” Trump said. “He’s got $12 in the bank, he borrows, he works with his car dealer in Florida, give me a break, Rubio is not the guy that’s gonna be negotiating with the kind of people you have to negotiate with to turn this country around.”
Trump was likely referring to Norman Braman, a billionaire car dealer in Miami who has been a supporter of Rubio and contributed at least $5 million to Rubio’s Super PAC.
Trump added that Rubio was the one who attacked him first. The two previously went back and forth with each other during the GOP debates about Rubio’s voting record in the Senate and Trump’s inexperience as a politician. Rubio did attack Trump for not being well-informed on the issues after the second GOP debate.
But Trump had already been directing his usual name-calling at Rubio. What appears to have been the tipping point for the real estate mogul is when Rubio said Trump hasn’t talked seriously about national security, which makes his qualifications for president questionable.
In the most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Trump maintains his lead with 21%, but Rubio rose to third place with 11%, which is 6 points higher than the previous month’s poll.
Nicole Brown