Donald Trump predicted Friday that Marco Rubio is “going to go down” in his home state of Florida, a boast that at least for now is backed up by the latest polls.
“Actually, I’ll use a word that he uses: he has conned the people of Florida into voting for him and I’ll tell you what, they are angry,” Trump said during a post-debate speech in Michigan. “He’s at 16, so he’s going to go down.”
An average of some recent polls from late February have Trump up as much as 18 points over Rubio.
Rubio has guaranteed a victory in Florida, making a defeat there a practical knockout blow for his candidacy. Trump’s suggestion that Rubio had “conned” Floridians was a direct allusion to one of the major lines of attack that Rubio has launched since the former reality TV star won South Carolina.
Rubio has been citing Trump University, a short-lived business venture that has given rise to two pending lawsuits accusing the real estate mogul of fraud. “He’s trying to do to the American people what he did to people in this course. He’s making promises he can’t keep,” Rubio said during Thursday night’s debate. “He’s trying to con people into giving him their vote just like he conned these people into giving him their money.”
Trump promised to win the class-action lawsuit that has been filed by former students at Trump University. “It got rave reviews,” he said. “Then a law firm comes along and says … ‘if we sue, you’ll get your money back.'”
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who filed a different suit in 2013, said there’s a “pretty straightforward” case against Trump. “If you tell people we’re going to teach you Donald Trump’s secrets, and he never had any part in writing the curriculum, that’s fraud,” Schneiderman told CNN on Friday. “This is the equivalent of putting up a sign that says Trump Hospital, when it’s not, and the people in it aren’t nurses and doctors.”
