Anyone surprised that five-plus years into his Senate term, Marco Rubio has discovered constituents who aren’t fund-raisers and political insiders? Anyone surprised that he has discovered public-housing issues and Sunshine State heroin addiction? Anyone surprised that since dropping out of the presidential race, he hasn’t missed a single Senate vote? And anyone surprised that he’s still adamant about giving up his Senate seat?
It’s not an ethical epiphany, but part of the master political plan.
He knows–and is on record as saying–that Donald Trump is unfit for the presidency. He also knows there’s a good chance Trump will lose to Hillary Clinton, and that the 2020 GOP candidacy will be inviting to high-profile, charismatic wannabes who didn’t cozy up to Trump and alienate major demographics and establishment bosses.
He’ll keep a high, profitable profile with speech-making and think-tanking prominent over the next few years. He’ll have campaign videos that will remind voters how he took to the Senate floor to rally against Zika. He’ll travel overseas to further boost his foreign-policy bona fides. He may even get some face time at next month’s GOP convention, but observers will document his nuanced enthusiasm. He won’t have to defend an embarrassing, absentee Senate voting record again.
No, Marco Rubio hasn’t found redemption in doing the sort of Congressional work he was elected to do in 2010. He has found a way to leverage his last days in the Senate. His presidential vision is 2020.