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Marco Rubio on TODAY Show: Trump has turned election into 'circus,' 'freakshow'

Sen. Marco Rubio presses the issue that Trump's behavior has made a mockery of the election.
/ Source: TODAY

The morning after a contentious Republican debate in which he relentlessly attacked front-runner Donald Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio continued to press the issue that Trump's behavior has made a mockery of the election.

"What he has done, he has turned the most important election in a generation into a circus and a freakshow,'' Rubio told Savannah Guthrie on TODAY Friday. "I want that to end, and I'm going to continue to work for that to end."

Rubio repeatedly attacked Trump at Thursday night's debate in Detroit, claiming his policy ideas are unrealistic, his behavior is vulgar and unbecoming of office, and that the same business practices he regularly criticizes — like using foreign manufacturers to make clothes — are the ones he has used in his own businesses. He also claimed that Trump regularly flip-flops on his positions.

However, Rubio also said Thursday that if Trump secured the Republican nomination, he would vote for him.

"That's the quandary that we're in,'' Rubio told Guthrie. "We as Republicans feel that Hillary Clinton would be a disaster to the country. That's how bad she is. I would look at that as a reflection of how bad she is, not how bad Donald Trump is."

The Florida senator has even traded barbs with Trump regarding his manhood, as Trump responded to Rubio's comment regarding his "small hands." Rubio said he does not regret making the comment.

"There is not a speech or debate that Donald Trump does that he doesn't personally offend or try to offend somebody,'' Rubio said. "I said something one time to a guy that needs to be stood up to. It happened one time because the guy is a rhetorical bully."

Follow TODAY.com writer Scott Stump on Twitter.