Anna J Kaiser | (TNS) Bloomberg News

Donald Trump crushed Marco Rubio’s White House aspirations in 2016, besting “Little Marco” in a vicious contest notable for crude insults and arguments over who was more dependent on makeup and tanning beds.

Eight years later, the 53-year-old senator from Florida is on the short list to be Trump’s vice president, along with North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Ohio Senator JD Vance. At a Miami campaign rally this week, Trump teased the idea of selecting Rubio as his running mate, telling the crowd that the lawmaker may not be a senator for much longer.

Joining forces would ease the path for Rubio to make his own presidential run in 2028, and may give Trump access to one-time Rubio donors who tend to favor Republicans but aren’t part of the MAGA movement. But perhaps most importantly, adding the son of Cuban immigrants to his ticket could help the former president shore up his standing with one of the fastest-growing demographic groups in the U.S.: Latinos.

Creating inroads with Hispanics and Latinos has never been more critical — nationwide, they accounted for half of the increase in eligible voters since the 2020 election, some 4 million people — and many are in swing states. Pennsylvania, which Trump lost in 2020 by fewer than 82,000 votes, saw its total Hispanic population grow 10% from 2020 to 2023, or by 104,000 people, according to census data. Nevada, another key state where Trump came up short, has seen a similar surge.

“Marco can sit with Hispanic voters and talk about what they or their parents went through to get here,” said Rebeca Sosa, a veteran politician in Miami who Rubio has called his “godmother” for the guidance she provided over his career. “He can convince Hispanic voters that the Republican party is the party that doesn’t accept any communists.”

Rubio has made his Cuban heritage and opposition to communism central to his conservative political identity. In remarks to Hispanic audiences, he often tries to link the Democratic party with the types of leftist ideologies that many Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and other Latinos fled to get to the U.S.

“No community in this country knows better than this one what they are doing,” Rubio said in Spanish at the Trump rally in Miami. “You’ve seen this film before, right? We’re not repeating that here.”

Latinos have long been a key constituency within the Democratic caucus, but those ties seem to be fraying, and Rubio could be well positioned to take advantage. While 59% of Hispanic voters cast ballots for Joe Biden in 2020, a Gallup poll conducted last year found Hispanic support for Democrats at a record low, with the margin over Republicans down by more than half from 2020 to 2023.

Trump and Biden have roughly equal support from Hispanic voters in swing states, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll from early July. About 47% of Hispanic voters said they’d back Biden, with about 43% preferring Trump.

Of course, having a Hispanic candidate on the ticket wouldn’t guarantee support from Hispanic voters. Those concerned about treatment of migrants might be turned off by elements of the Republican National Committee’s 2024 platform, which calls for sealing the border and stopping the “migrant invasion” and carrying out the “largest deportation operation” in U.S. history.

Trump has accused immigrants coming to the U..S of “poisoning the blood of our country.”

“His messaging and policy don’t resonate inherently with Hispanic voters,” said Fernand Amandi, a Democratic pollster and lecturer at the University of Miami. Rubio’s Cuban heritage and anti-communism rhetoric has pull in Florida, but may not be as well received by Mexican-Americans and other groups in the rest of the country, he said.

“Rubio’s constantly condemning and trying to cut funding for education and health care, which are things Hispanic people in the U.S. value,” he said.

With the Republican National Convention set for next week, Trump is likely to announce his running mate in coming days. His campaign says there’s been no decision made. “The top criteria in selecting a vice president is a strong leader who could make a great president,” Brian Hughes, a senior adviser, said in an email.

Rubio’s press office declined to comment.

“Whether I’m in the Senate, or I get a chance to serve in the executive branch, I want to be a part of these issues we’re facing at this moment in our nation’s history because they’re that important,” Rubio said in an interview with CNN after the presidential debate in June. “But that’s his decision to make.”

In Florida, once considered a swing state evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, the emergence of conservative Latino movements has helped the GOP get the upper hand. And Rubio is popular, cruising to re-election in 2022. His allies paint him as a stable, time-tested politician and gifted bilingual public speaker.

But just as significant might be his track record at raising money from GOP donors who have never given to Trump.

Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel, gave $5.1 million to Rubio’s allied super PAC to support his unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corp., and hedge fund manager Paul Singer each donated $5 million. Norman Braman, the former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, contributed $7 million, more than any other donor.

Griffin has said he is waiting for Trump to choose his running mate before deciding whether to support his re-election. Braman, Singer and Ellison didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.

Among members of Trump’s VP shortlist, Rubio is closest to the traditional Republican establishment that prioritizes tax cuts and conservative social policies. He clashes with Trump and his populist tendencies on some foreign policy issues — Rubio is a well-known China hawk and has been a vocal advocate for a ban on the social media app TikTok, which Trump has flip-flopped on.

Rubio has also been a critic of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine and a proponent of NATO, co-sponsoring a bill that prevents U.S. presidents from leaving the organization. Trump has long criticized NATO and in February said he would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to member countries that don’t “pay their bills.”

One complication with Rubio joining the ticket is that the Constitution requires presidential and vice presidential candidates to come from different states, meaning the senator might have to change his official residency. But that aside, his presence on the ticket would highlight Florida’s increasing influence in the Republican party. Trump’s campaign manager, Susie Wiles, is a longtime operative from Florida who has crossed paths with Rubio both in DC and Tallahassee.

Rubio became the Florida House speaker in 2006 when he was 34. He shocked the Republican establishment when he won the primary for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2010.

“Saying Marco was an underdog is an understatement,” said Jay Demetree, Rubio’s former finance chairman. He said Rubio’s embrace of Tea Party policies, including strident opposition to the Affordable Care Act and deficit spending, helped win the support of “hardcore Republicans, people who were really aware of the issues.”

“He’s developed a knack with donors,” Demetree added. “Frankly, I think for a lot of Republican donors in this election, having somebody like Marco as the VP would give them a sense of security.”

Some critics see Rubio’s embrace of Trump as based on pragmatism — the MAGA movement has taken over the GOP, and those who want to maintain influence in the party need to be on board. Dan Gelber, who was the Democratic leader of the Florida House of Representatives when Rubio was speaker, said he has shown flexibility before with his enthusiastic embrace of the Tea Party as it rose to prominence.

“Marco has exceptional political antennae,” Gelber said. “He realized before many that the Tea Party was not something in the hinterlands, but that it was becoming the center of the Republican party.”

Rubio and his wife Jeanette, a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader, sat in the front row for the July 9 rally at the Trump National Doral Miami, a few miles from the western suburb where he grew up. A Christian country music soundtrack played as he approached the podium.

“What a nice golf course, huh?” Rubio said. “Who owns this place anyway?”

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(With assistance from Nancy Cook, Bill Allison and Ted Mann.)

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Iain Marlow | (TNS) Bloomberg News

President Joe Biden is forging ahead with a political war on two fronts: against skeptics from his own party and against Republican challenger Donald Trump.

A high-stakes press conference on Thursday evening that began with a major gaffe — his second in as many hours — saw the incumbent 81-year-old Democrat flatly insist he was keeping his campaign alive.

“I’m determined on running,” Biden said, adding he would only step aside if aides told him that he couldn’t win, something “no one is suggesting” now.

His performance failed to stem the tide of Democratic angst. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with Biden Thursday evening and “directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives, and conclusions about the path forward” that had been shared with him, according to a letter sent to lawmakers Friday. The White House confirmed the meeting, but declined to provide details about the discussion.

Shortly after Biden’s NATO appearance ended, three more members from his party, including Representative Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called for him to step aside.

Biden acknowledged Thursday night that “it’s important that I allay fears” within his party.

On Friday, he’ll head to a campaign event in Detroit, taking that effort to the crucial swing-state of Michigan. Next week, he’ll look to shore up his standing with key Democratic blocs with a stop Monday in Austin to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act — an attempt to also counterprogram the Republican National Convention which starts that day. That will be followed by visits to the NAACP National Convention and a gathering of Latino activists.

Focus on Trump

As Biden left the stage Thursday, he also sought to shift the focus to Trump, suggesting to voters that despite his own missteps his general-election challenger’s rhetoric and policies are much worse.

“Listen to him,” Biden said.

That message was amplified Friday morning by one of the president’s closest allies in Congress, Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, who said he remains “all in” with Biden and that the party should let him “make his own decisions about his future.”

Clyburn said attention should be on Trump and what his return to power would augur for American voters, citing Project 2025, a sweeping policy blueprint being crafted by some of the Republican’s closest advisers that proposes a massive overhaul of the federal government and replacing thousands of civil servants with officials deemed loyal to the former president to help enact a more conservative agenda.

“I would hope that we would spend our time now focusing on the record that we will lay out for the American people, remind the American people of what is in store for them if Project 2025 were to become the law in any form. That is where our focus ought to be,” Clyburn said on NBC’s Today.

Trump has repeatedly sought to distance himself from the project, despite the involvement of some of the most prominent members of his former administration in the initiative — a reaction that suggests concern that the Democratic attacks may land with voters.

NATO Summit

The NATO summit in Washington this week gave the White House a chance to showcase Biden uniting world leaders in support of Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion. The president survived nearly a week of intense scrutiny as he hosted dozens of world leaders in Washington before making the kind of gaffe Democrats feared as the gathering concluded.

Biden confused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while on stage with fellow NATO leaders, a misstep that drew gasps from the audience and threatened to unleash a new round of anxiety in foreign capitals worried about the prospect of Trump returning to office.

The president quickly recovered, seeking to clean up the mistake. “President Putin? We’re going to beat President Putin,” Biden said, but the event marred the close of an otherwise successful summit.

Up until the Putin gaffe, Biden had won praise from European leaders and their advisers, who said he appeared energetic and strong.

He delivered a strident speech at the summit’s opening, held various meetings with delegations from allies and led alliance members in pledging new security assistance for Ukraine — including badly-needed air-defense systems. The final communique also called out China’s aid to Russia with strong language, reflecting an ability to broaden hard-nosed US concerns about Chinese behavior to European allies that are not always willing to risk Beijing’s ire.

Ahead of his solo appearance, several European aides suggested the level of scrutiny on Biden was unfair, and that younger leaders might have withered under a similar microscope. Following the Thursday evening slip-ups, however, one senior European official said it was unfortunate that the gaffes would likely overshadow the progress made at the gathering.

Later that evening at the start of his press conference, Biden also mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump,” this time failing to correct himself.

Before the press conference was over, Trump had already mocked Biden’s reference on social media, writing “GREAT job, Joe!”

Still, the president handled most of the questions at the event well, speaking at length on various issues, including a detailed foreign policy question about China and Russia. White House aides were quick to highlight Biden’s ability to handle detailed policy questions.

“To answer the question on everyone’s minds: No, Joe Biden does not have a doctorate in foreign affairs,” one White House deputy spokesman, Andrew Bates, wrote on X.

But the White House and campaign’s efforts to have Biden speak more and increase his visibility offer more public tests for a president who has long shown a propensity for verbal stumbles. Biden will sit for an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt on Monday, to be aired in prime time, the second such sitdown with a broadcast network in as many weeks.

On Thursday night, after his press conference Biden responded to Trump on X.

“By the way: Yes, I know the difference” between Harris and Trump, he wrote. “One’s a prosecutor, and the other’s a felon.”

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(With assistance from Alex Wickham and Billy House.)

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By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — NATO leaders met this week to celebrate the alliance’s 75th anniversary under the cloud of deep political uncertainty in its most powerful member — the United States.

But even as questions swirled about President Joe Biden’s future and the implications of a possible return to the White House by NATO skeptic Donald Trump, the 32 allies put a brave face on their strength and unity going forward, particularly in relation to Ukraine.

Over three days in Washington, Ukraine, Russia, the threat posed by an increasingly aggressive China and NATO’s future dominated the formal summit discussions, although all eyes were on Biden.

He hoped to use the summit as a symbol of his strength as leader of the free world as he struggles to salvage his reelection campaign. Biden is facing growing calls to withdraw after a poor debate performance against Trump last month.

Here are key takeaways from the summit:

Biden gets some slack

Biden stunned the audience at a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council on Thursday by referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian President Vladimir Putin before quickly correcting himself.

At his news conference later at the conclusion of the summit, he mistakenly called Vice President Kamala Harris Vice President Trump.

NATO leaders paid great deference to Biden by either ignoring or sidestepping questions about his comportment, appearance and grasp of the issues. They praised his leadership and the achievements that NATO has made during his tenure in the White House, including rallying the allies to oppose Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the addition of Finland and Sweden as members.

French President Emmanuel Macron and new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were asked repeatedly about the gaffe but declined to answer directly.

“We can all have a slip of the tongue,” Macron said. “It’s happened to me. I’m sure it will happen to me again tomorrow, and I’d ask you to be just as kind to me.”

Macron said he had a long discussion with Biden during Wednesday’s dinner with NATO leaders and heard his discussions in meetings during the summit. He described Biden as “very much on top of things.”

“He knows the issues, and around the table, he is amongst those who has the greatest depth of knowledge on these international issues,” Macron said.

Starmer, who made his debut on the international stage at the summit, ducked multiple questions about the gaffe, instead praising Biden for his leadership and his preparation in putting an event together to secure solid outcomes for Ukraine.

“I want to look at the substance of what’s been achieved over these two days,” he said.

Trump looms over the summit

A potential Trump presidency has raised concerns in some European capitals. Trump has repeatedly questioned NATO’s relevance, has suggested he might withdraw from the alliance or short of that has threatened not to defend allies who do not meet the 2% defense spending commitments.

Biden said at his news conference that he’s the “best qualified person” to ensure that the 32-member transatlantic alliance remains strong and that Ukraine does not fall to Putin.

“Foreign policy has never been his strong point and he seems to have an affinity to people who are authoritarian,” Biden said of Trump. “That worries Europe, that worries Poland, and nobody, including the people of Poland, think if (Putin) wins in Ukraine, he’s going to stop in Ukraine.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he’s not concerned about the U.S. commitment to the alliance if Trump is returned to the White House, because it has bipartisan support in Congress and a record number of allies are hitting their goals for military spending.

Trump was asked this week on Fox News Radio whether he wants the U.S. to exit NATO. He answered, “No, I want them to pay their bills.”

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, gave a speech to friendly Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, on the sidelines of the summit, saying he hopes the U.S. never leaves NATO.

“I hope that if the people of America will elect President Trump, I hope that his policy with Ukraine will not change,” Zelenskyy said in a question-and-answer session with Fox News host Bret Baier after his speech.

Ukraine brings in aid

Although they stopped short of offering Ukraine an invitation to join, the allies affirmed that Ukraine is on an “irreversible path” to NATO membership and pledged to maintain a baseline of roughly $43 billion in annual support to Kyiv as it defends itself from Russia’s invasion and attempts to deter future aggression.

There were new pledges of air defense support, including Patriot missile systems and F-16 fighter jets, as well as promises that individual security deals being signed by NATO members with Ukraine constitute a “bridge to NATO.” As part of that bridge, NATO agreed to start up a new program to provide reliable military aid and training to Ukraine and help it get ready to join the alliance.

“Ukraine’s future is in NATO,” the allies said in their joint communique Wednesday.

Zelenskyy embraced the support of allies who have provided substantial new military aid and a path to joining NATO, but he emphatically pushed for the help to arrive faster and for restrictions to be lifted on the use of U.S. weapons to attack military targets inside Russia.

“If we want to win, if we want to prevail, if we want to save our country and to defend it, we need to lift all the limitations,” Zelenskyy said alongside Stoltenberg in the final hours of a summit that saw Ukraine receive fresh commitments of weapons to firm up its defense against Russia.

Harsh words for China

NATO leaders have been concerned about China and its increasing aggressiveness for some time. But in a first, they adopted significantly stronger language calling out Beijing for its support of Russia in its war against Ukraine.

The communique labeled China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war effort, saying Chinese investments and exports of dual-use items are rebuilding Russia’s defense industrial sector. That is helping Russia overcome Western sanctions to ramp up the production of weapons for use in Ukraine.

China has opposed NATO’s reach into the Indo-Pacific region, saying it hurts Beijing’s interests and disrupts peace and stability in the region, said Lin Jian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman.

The four Indo-Pacific countries attending the summit — Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia — issued a joint statement to “strongly condemn the illicit military cooperation” between Russia and North Korea, showing how the military alliance and its Pacific partners are forging closer ties to counter what they see as shared security threats.

“We must work even more closely together to preserve peace and protect the rules-based international order,” Stoltenberg said when meeting officials of the four Pacific partners. “Our security is not regional. It is global.”