CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday night asked Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who ended up winning just one state on Super Tuesday, whether he was in denial about his chances in the Republican presidential primary. Rubio, of course, denied that he is in denial.
Tapper began the election night interview by telling Rubio that it was “not a great night for you.”
“The past week you’ve been relentlessly hammering Donald Trump. Tonight, he won state after state after state. Is it possible that your quarrel is not so much with Donald Trump as it is with Republican primary voters?” Tapper asked.
“No, I think you’re mis-analyzing the night,” Rubio responded, adding that he expects to pick up lots of delegates in states where he did not finish first.
Rubio pointed to Virginia, where he lost to Trump by a relatively small margin.
“Tonight, we basically fought Donald Trump to a draw, and had it been a narrower field, we would have won Virginia,” he told Tapper before railing against Trump.
But Tapper reminded Rubio that Trump continued to dominate the primary with several big wins on Super Tuesday.
“Senator, you keep saying that, and he keeps winning states, and you’re talking about Virginia and that’s another state that Donald Trump won,” Tapper said. “And I’m just wondering if there’s a certain amount of denial that you’re in about this race.”
“No, Jake,” Rubio replied.
Watch the interview via CNN:
