One day after he threw his support behind Marco Rubio, Sen. Cory Gardner is already acting as a proxy, defending his Senate colleague from attacks by Donald Trump.
Trump went after Rubio this week in an interview with Bloomberg Politics, accusing him of being disloyal to Jeb Bush. “Another thing I didn’t like about him, don’t like about him, he should have been more loyal to Bush,” Trump said.
But Gardner, a Colorado Republican, said that voters don’t care about candidate loyalties, and rivalries.
“I think the American people aren’t looking for loyalty amongst candidates to other candidates. What the American people are looking for is loyalty to the American people,” Gardner told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day” Tuesday morning.
Gardner also dismissed Republican infighting over debate formats as “insider games.”
“It’s going to come down to the American people. And whether the American people believe Marco Rubio understands what it’s going to take to give our friends around the globe the trust that they once had in the strength of the United States.”
Rubio has been rising steadily in the polls over the past month, overtaking one-time front-runner Bush, though the Florida senator is still behind Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
The rivalry between to the two Floridians escalated last week after Bush took a shot at Rubio during the third Republican debate for missing Senate votes. An internal Bush campaign document was later leaked showing that the Bush campaign was trying to keep donors in the fold by labeling Rubio a “risky” investment.