Marco Rubio is the Best Candidate for President — And He Should Leave the Race

What happened last week in Minnesota is the way it was supposed to be. Republicans gathered precinct by precinct in school classrooms, churches, and public libraries to talk with their neighbors. With a record-setting turnout, we Minnesotans chose Senator Marco Rubio as our candidate for President — by a rather large margin. It was a commanding win for Rubio. And Donald Trump didn’t even finish second in Minnesota, but was left behind as a distant third.

Of all of the candidates, Marco Rubio began by offering an uplifting message of a diverse America moving forward into a new century. For many of us who believe that an understanding of the common good, respect for life, personal character, and a vibrant faith that informs conscience are the standards by which the Ship of State should navigate, Rubio was a shining star in this crowded field.

Yes, what happened in Minnesota is the way it was supposed to be. But as proud as I am to be a Minnesotan today, that simply is not the way it has been anywhere else. Or the way it will be in the future. Of 23 states (almost half), Rubio has won only one (along with the territory of Puerto Rico).

We can imagine how it could have been. Had Rubio not been unsettled by Governor Chris Christie in the post-Iowa debate and instead had gone on to the strong second place finish in New Hampshire that polls were showing beforehand, we could be looking at a different picture. Governors Jeb Bush and John Kasich would have been forced out earlier or at least lost any meaningful attention. With those voters mostly coming Rubio’s way, he might have won South Carolina. He certainly would have won Virginia last week, where Rubio went from a double-digit deficit in the polls to within a couple of points of Trump on primary election day.

Yes, it’s nice to think about what could have been. But that’s not how it unfolded. And the future doesn’t look brighter. In the post-Super Tuesday period, Rubio has fallen from second to third or fourth, failing even to pick up scraps of delegates in many states. And Rubio is facing the very real prospect of being embarrassed in his home state of Florida, which makes the path forward truly impossible.

In a last man standing scenario, the anti-Trump movement has begun to coalesce around Senator Ted Cruz, who has now won seven states. Importantly, Cruz has given us a glimpse of what a two-person race looks like. In Texas and Alaska, Rubio was not a significant factor, so it came down directly to Cruz versus Trump. And in that battle, Cruz wins, more often than not. In more than one state since Super Tuesday, the withdrawal of Rubio (or Kasich) might have delivered a win over Trump to Cruz. (And Governor Kasich likewise has no realitic path forward.)

Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee of one of our two great parties only because the candidate field remains splintered. From Iowa through Super Tuesday and even through yesterday, Trump has consistently (higher here and there, lower here and there) obtained about one third of the Republican vote. Just as consistently, two-third of Republican voters have said they want someone else as their nominee.

The two-thirds that are not voting for Trump are a diverse lot to be sure. A few of them will come into the Trump fold if candidates like Rubio and Kasich fall out. But the lion’s share will not.

Last week revealed a startling trend among faithful and lifelong Republicans. I’ve been attending Republican caucuses in Iowa and Minnesota for three decades. These are rather intimate events, where you don’t just run into a polling place and cast a ballot, but rather spend considerable time in a small room with a few dozen people who are from your own precinct neighborhood. Over the many years, I’ve heard passionate arguments for and against presidential candidates. I’ve heard pragmatic appeals for one or another candidate as being better on an issue or stronger as a candidate in the fall general election.

But this time was different. I’ve never heard so many actually despairing about the likely nominee of the party, to the degree that the likely nominee of the other party may be the beneficiary. In the past ten days, and at the Minnesota caucuses, I heard many lifelong Republicans declare, not just that they will never vote for Trump if he is the nominee, but that they would actually vote for Hillary Clinton rather than to take any risk that this dangerous man could become President.

As I outlined in a previous post, more and more people are awakening to the clear and present danger that Trump poses to fundamental American values and even our constitutional republic. Catholic thinkers warn that Trump promises “the further degradation of our politics and our culture.” While the one-third of Republican primary voters that support him appear impervious to the facts, the rest of the country is becoming increasingly alarmed.

Even as he celebrated his recent primary victories, Trump showed the kind of person he is and the kind of President he would be. If House Speaker Paul Ryan (the most thoughtful and sincere leader in the Republican Party today) didn’t do what Trump wanted, Trump said “he will pay a big price.” Trump instinctively reverts to threats. He is a bully, a thug.

And Trump demands personal loyalty, beyond the craving for adulation typical of politicians. In several recent rallies, he asked the crowd to raise their right hand and essentially swear fealty to him. While one should be hesitant to invoke the specter of fascism, it is increasingly difficult to avoid the analogy. This image from recent rallies is shocking, a crowd of people extending their right hands toward Trump, truly reminiscent of Nazi rallies in Germany in the 1930s.

So Senator Rubio, it is time to join with Senator Cruz and try to prevent the disaster that is coming. I have admired you as the new face of the Republican Party. I’ve contributed to you and last week was part of your strong victory in the Minnesota caucuses. I know you love your country. And you are right that Donald Trump is a con artist, that he cannot be trusted to protect our liberties, that he cannot be trusted to stand up for the dignity of human life at all stages.

But the only one that can stand in Trump’s path and deny him the nomination is now Ted Cruz. The alternative is disaster for our country and for those of us who still believe that principle and character matter.