Marco Rubio picked up where he left off Thursday night on the GOP presidential debate stage in Houston, unleashing Friday a withering assault on Republican front-runner Donald Trump.
“It’s time to pull his mask off. … What we are dealing with is a con artist,” Rubio told a crowd of about 2,000 in Dallas. “The charade is up. This is a con job where he’s going to Americans that are struggling, Americans that are hurting and he’s implying, ‘I’m fighting for you because I’m a tough guy.’ “
During the event, Rubio pulled out his phone and read a series of Trump tweets - what some are calling 'mean tweets,' a reference to a Jimmy Kimmel sketch.
"Let's read some," Rubio said. "You'll have fun. 'Lightweight Marco Rubio was working hard last night … The problem is he is a chocker, and once a chocker, always a choker.' I guess that's what he meant to say."
Rubio added, “Just like Trump Tower, he must have hired a foreign worker to do his own tweets.”
Rubio also joked that Trump might have wet his pants during the debate and had a sweat mustache.
Rubio is fresh off his most aggressive debate performance yet, in which he and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas came at Trump with rapid-fire attacks in an effort to slow the real estate developer's momentum. After Cruz won Iowa, Trump took New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
Anne Duffy, 60, a health care consultant in Dallas, said she prefers Rubio because he isn’t a “bully” like Trump.
“I like the fact that he’s more moderate,” she said. “He seems to be able to think through his policies and articulate them better than the other candidates.”
Just after Rubio's event, former candidate Chris Christie endorsed Trump for president.
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