Tonight Rubio lost his home state of Florida, ending his presidential campaign. So complete was his defeat that a Trump supporter yelled, “President Trump!” during Rubio’s concession speech. But at some distant point in the future, when human civilization is gone from this earth, alien historians will look back at news reports and punditry from the 2016 primary season and be convinced that Marco Rubio must have surely won.
Here are the worst predictions of a Rubio victory:
- Way back in 2013, Time christened Rubio “The Republican Savior.”
- From Ross Douthat in September:
The entire commentariat is going to feel a little silly when Marco Rubio wins every Republican primary.
— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) September 25, 2015
- “Rubio-Fiorina or a Fiorina-Rubio ticket’s going to win in November, everyone should calm down,” Bill Kristol told MSNBC in October.
- In December, National Review made a bold “2016 Prediction: Rubio Beats Hillary.”
- And, just last week: “How Rubio Can Still Win the Nomination.”