Donald Trump creates a new nickname for Marco Rubio: ‘Lightweight choker’

Source: Wash post

Donald Trump speaks to a crowd of supporters during a rally in Springfield, Ill., on Monday. (Seth Perlman/AP)

[Inside Marco Rubio’s messy American Express statements]

Monday’s rally in Springfield, the Illinois capital and Abraham Lincoln’s home, was Trump’s first in more than a week, as he spent the first week of November in New York to promote his new book and prepare to host “Saturday Night Live.” Toward the end of last month, Trump appeared to tone down his campaign trail insults, instead pitching himself as the perfect next president. But Trump was back on the offensive during the Monday night rally that attracted 10,200.

Here are the rivals Trump focused on during his hour-long speech:

Ben Carson: Trump continued to go after the former surgeon and fellow outsider Republican candidate, who in recent days has faced questions about his supposedly violent childhood that included several attacks on others. At one point Trump marveled at how different this election has been from years past.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said. “People are getting away with murder. I never saw anything like this. You can say anything about anybody, and their poll numbers go up. No matter what you do. If you try to hit your mother over the head with a hammer, your poll numbers go up. I never saw anything like it. … A lot of weird things are happening. This is a strange election, isn’t it?”

[Ben Carson is still the most popular presidential candidate. And it’s not close.]

Trump said he doesn’t understand why Carson is trying so hard to convince everyone that he once tried stabbing a friend, a story told in his autobiography that has come under scrutiny.

“It’s the only election in history where you’re better off if you stabbed somebody,” Trump said. “What are we coming to?”

Hillary Rodham Clinton: Just a couple of minutes into his speech, Trump mentioned the Democratic front-runner, immediately prompting loud boos from the audience. Trump bragged that his appearance on “SNL” attracted far more viewers than Clinton’s in early October, even though the Democrat appeared alongside Miley Cyrus.

“She mispronounced a couple of words and stuttered a couple of times,” Trump said. “And all she had was one little skit. I had the whole evening, and I didn’t stutter once.”

Later in the night, Trump said Clinton would be unable to confront the Islamic State terrorist group because she “is not strong enough, she’s not tough enough.” He continued to hammer her for using a private e-mail server while serving as secretary of state and again called for her indictment.

Rubio: Trump told the crowd that Rubio is “very, very weak on immigration” and was once a member of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” group of senators who tried to reach a consensus on immigration reform.

“Do you know what the ‘Gang of Eight’ was? ‘Come in, come in, come on in,’ ” Trump said. “Our system can’t take it.”

Trump said he doesn’t understand why people consider Rubio a great speaker and again brought up water-bottle-gate, mocking Rubio for not drinking his water out of a glass.

“Some people are lucky or something is going on,” Trump said of Rubio’s success. “Explain it to me.”

Bernie Sanders: Early in the night, Trump smiled at a group in the audience that was chanting. At first it sounded like, “We want Trump!” But they were actually saying, “Feel the Bern!” The crowd booed and quickly drowned out the liberal protesters, while Trump shouted: “Get out of here!”

“I thought they were yelling in favor of Trump,” the candidate recapped to the audience. “And then finally I realized: Not working so well. It said, ‘Feel the Bern.’ That means Bernie. That means Bernie, all right?”

Trump then told the crowd about a recent Sanders rally when a couple of Black Lives Matter activists took command of his microphone.

“He was like this,” Trump said, taking a step back from his own microphone and cluelessly wandering around, mouth agape like a zombie or a lost tourist. “He is not stopping ISIS, I will tell you.”

[Can Bernie Sanders win over Latino voters?]

Trump also criticized Sanders for shutting down discussion of Clinton’s e-mail server during the last debate.

Jeb Bush: The former Republican governor of Florida used to be Trump’s No. 1 target. But as Bush has fallen in the polls, Trump has made a big deal about going easier on him — which is a different sort of insult. Trump said Monday night that Bush was almost the butt of a “rough line” in an “SNL” skit over the weekend but he vetoed it.

“Because I’m so nice, I said, ‘You can’t do it,’ ” Trump said. “It’s too mean, too nasty.”

Trump continued to explain his supposed act of kindness: “He’s not doing too well. And he has been defined. Now I have to define a couple of other people. And it should be easier, actually.”

Toward the end of his speech, Trump discussed his deal-making skills, searched for a rival to criticize and asked the crowd for suggestions.

“I used to use Jeb Bush … but who should I use? Who do you want me to use? I can use any of them,” Trump asked the crowd, prompting a mix of screamed answers. “You want me to use Rubio? How about I’ll use Hillary? How about her?”