Marco Rubio Apologized To Trump For ‘Small Hands’ Joke

Marco Rubio once ripped Donald Trump saying, “you know what they say about men with small hands… you can’t trust ’em.” Now that his presidential bid is over, he’s walking back that comment, saying he’s already apologized to Trump and that his behavior embarrassed his family. In the meantime, Trump is asking Rubio to get back into politics and run for his old Senate seat.

Marco Rubio said on CNN’s State of the Union that he was sorry for what he said.

“I apologized to him for that. I said, ‘You know, I’m sorry that I said that. It’s not who I am, and I shouldn’t have done it,’ I didn’t say it in front of the cameras. I didn’t want any political benefit. I’m not a candidate now, so I can say that to you.”

Donald Trump’s campaign was often characterized by insulting his fellow Republicans who were also campaigning for the nomination. He called Rubio “Little Marco” for a long portion of the race. Rubio attempted to launch his own insults, including mocking Trump’s slogan with “Make America Orange Again” and below the belt comments about the real estate mogul’s hands.

It didn’t work, and Rubio reflected on the tactics. He insisted that they didn’t cost him the election, but they didn’t help either.

“What I didn’t realize was, it’s not who I am and if you’re not being who you are, it doesn’t come across well. And he could do that because for whatever reason he can do that. But I couldn’t do that. It’s not who I am. It’s not what I do. And by doing it, I ended up hurting myself not him.”

Still, the insults revealed something sobering for the former Florida Senator according to the New York Daily News.

“But here’s the interesting thing: After I did that, for about four days, every one of my speeches was covered live on cable. They all broke in to cover my speeches in case I said something else. So I don’t know, I mean, what does that say?”

As for his future, Marco Rubio insists that he really wants to help Donald Trump because it means preventing a Hillary Clinton White House. Still, he wouldn’t consider an invitation to be vice president, saying that post would need to be someone closer to Trump’s own policy positions.

Donald Trump has also started supporting his former campaign rival. Marco Rubio bet everything on his presidential run and declined to run for reelection for his old Senate seat. Now that he’s out of the race, his political future is unknown. Trump says it’s time to reconsider according to USA Today.

Poll data shows that @marcorubio does by far the best in holding onto his Senate seat in Florida. Important to keep the MAJORITY. Run Marco!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2016

Rubio ruled out jumping into the Senate race. He said that would mean running against his old friend Lt. Gov. Carlos López-Cantera, and he would only consider running if Cantera dropped out.

Still, the former senator said it was safe to assume he’d be back in political office sometime in the future, he just doesn’t know what job he’ll be running for.

As for Donald Trump, his general election prospects are looking good against Hillary Clinton. The latest polls from Real Clear Politics show he’s narrowed the gap between himself and the Democratic front-runner to a statistical tie. Trump will still likely need plenty of help from popular Republican voices like Marco Rubio to win in November.

[Photo by Angel Valentin/Getty Images]