Former Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn announced Monday that he is endorsing Marco Rubio for president on Super Tuesday eve, when a dozen states, including Oklahoma, are set to cast their ballots.
In a statement, Coburn, who retired from the U.S. Senate in 2015, lauded the Florida senator as the only candidate in the race who is “in the mold of President [Ronald] Reagan,” before touting him as an “extremely effective Tea Party senator” since his 2010 election.
“Marco is the only candidate in this race who is in the mold of President Reagan. While some are offering a message of victimization and helplessness against Washington, Marco understands that ‘We the People’ are the establishment and the elites in American society,” Coburn said in a statement.
“In Washington, Marco has been an extremely effective Tea Party senator,” said Coburn, a doctor. “No candidate running for president has fought Obamacare more effectively than Marco and no one has a better grasp of foreign affairs and America’s place in the world.”
The former senator then followed the lead of Rubio by going after Trump in the rest of the statement, calling his entire campaign a “fabrication,” while saying that he’s “perpetuating a fraud” against Americans.
“The candidacy of Donald Trump, however, threatens to undo and reverse years of work that began with Goldwater and Reagan — work that future movements like the 1994 Republican Revolution and the Tea Party sought to preserve and perfect,” Coburn said.
“Donald Trump’s campaign is a fabrication,” Coburn said. “He is perpetuating a fraud on the American people. His empty promises, bullying and bloviating rhetoric will only deepen the frustration and disillusionment that gave rise to his campaign. He simply lacks the character, skills and policy knowledge to turn his grandiose promises into reality.
“Put simply, Donald Trump has no plan to make America great again,” Coburn said, adding further that Trump is a “populist without portfolio.”
Recently, Coburn became incensed with the real estate mogul after he and his campaign pushed out a fabricated quote attributed to Coburn calling Ted Cruz “one of the most dishonest people in D.C.” The former senator called the quote “an absolute fabrication” before intimating that he would not be voting for Trump in a GOP primary battle.
In addition to the myriad of issues they agree on, Coburn and Rubio are two of the highest profile backers of the Convention of States project, which Coburn cited only weeks ago as a reason he had not endorsed in the GOP primary. Rubio and John Kasich are the only two candidates in the GOP field to back the project.
The endorsement comes one day before Super Tuesday, when 12 states vote and 595 delegates are up for grabs before the winner-take-all states take center stage in the race.
