On today's Face the Nation, Marco Rubio was asked if he would support Donald Trump if he won the Republican nomination. He refused to answer directly, as you can see per the transcript, courtesy of CBS News.
DICKERSON: Let me ask you about all the things you have now said about Donald Trump. You said he's running a big scam, he's a con -- it's a con job. So, how can you possibly still then retain the position that, if he's the nominee, you will support him?
RUBIO: Because he's never going to be the nominee. So, I'm not worried about a hypothetical that's never going to happen. Donald Trump will never have 1,236 delegates, which is what he needs to be the Republican nominee. It won't happen. In fact, I know I can get those delegates. And we're going to continue to work hard to make that happen.
That doesn't seem to be working so well, Rubio. He is steam rolling the entire GOP. Dickerson pressed on -
DICKERSON: But then you're saying he will never be the nominee. You have signed onto the hashtag #neverTrump. I guess what people wonder is, you say all these terrible things about him, but then why might you not, like Chris Christie, who said bad things about him, just turn around and endorse him once -- once he gets the nomination?
RUBIO: Well, again, he's not going to be the nominee, because we are not going to allow -- people will wake up and we're not going to allow a con artist to take over the party of Lincoln and Reagan.
Labeling him a con man this late in the game isn't gaining much traction, but Rubio keeps going on and Dickerson asks again -
DICKERSON: Let me ask you this, Senator. You say you're going to stop him. Are you going to have to win -- are you going to win Florida? He says he's going to beat you there.
RUBIO: Absolutely. No, we're going to win Florida. Florida is not going to vote for a con artist like Donald Trump. Again, look, he has the benefit of the fact that he's dominated media coverage, I mean, literally dominated media coverage because of the outrageous things he says and so forth.
That's going to end here. There's going to be real fight now for the heart and soul of the Republican Party and the conservative movement. And it is not -- I will do whatever it takes to prevent it from being taken over by a con artist. And I ask people to sign up to our effort at MarcoRubio.com so that, together, we can make this happen.
And then comes mention of a "contested convention"
DICKERSON: Let me ask you. You will do whatever it takes. Your campaign manager has been talking about a contested convention, which means taking it all the way to the convention. In that case, you would be basically taking the nomination away from Donald Trump. Wouldn't that just cause an uproar from all those people who voted for him, who have given him their support? Wouldn't that just create calamity in the party?
RUBIO: Well, my preference is that we beat him outright in the primary process. And I believe that's exactly what's going to happen here in the next few weeks, especially as we move to winner-take-all states. The terrain begins to change.
Rubio ended with this scorched earth vision of the Republican Party if Trump becomes the nominee -
RUBIO: If he's our nominee, it could be the end of the Republican Party. It will split us and splinter us in a way that we may never be able to recover. And the Democrats will be joyful about it. It's not going to happen.
There you have it. Rubio refusing to agree to support the potential nominee, hinting at a contested convention and an all out war in his own party. Fantastic.
