Rubio on Trump: First a con man, now better than Hillary Clinton

Last month Rubio said he is supporting Trump because he pledged early in the campaign to support the Republican nominee

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A dangerous, erratic, con man with the worst spray tan ever. That's how Sen Marco Rubio described Donald Trump when they were both seeking the Republican presidential nomination.

Now that Trump is the nominee and Rubio is running for re-election, his tone is different. He is no longer criticising Trump, but he isn't exactly gushing praise.

Democrats are trying to make him look like a hypocrite for backing the man he previously said shouldn't have access to nuclear weapon codes, and for jumping back into the Senate race after he said he wouldn't.

"Sen. Rubio is actually the real con man here," said US Rep. Patrick Murphy, who is challenging US Rep. Alan Grayson for the Democratic nomination. "He said something to the effect of, 'Ten thousand times, I'm telling you I'm not going to run for the Senate again.' Well guess what? He's running for the Senate again."

But don't ask Rubio to reconcile supporting Trump with his past criticism.

"We've gone through that a million times," Rubio said at a campaign stop at a Tallahassee restaurant. "At this point we're just going to continue to focus on my race and leave the past in the past."

Last month in Panama City, Rubio said he is supporting Trump because he pledged early in the campaign to support the Republican nominee.

"There are only two people in the world that are going to be president of the United States in 2017," Rubio said. "It will either be Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. And It can't be Hillary Clinton."

Leaving his remarks in the past isn't something his opponents are willing to do. Republican developer Carlos Beruff often criticises Rubio for not enthusiastically supporting Trump, and Murphy and Grayson are calling him out for his hypocrisy.

Grayson described the relationship between Trump and Rubio by quoting late New York Yankees manager Billy Martin, who once said of late team owner George Steinbrenner and star outfielder Reggie Jackson: "The two of them deserve each other. One's a born liar and the other's convicted." (Steinbrenner had pleaded guilty to making illegal contributions to President Richard Nixon's campaign.) "That's sort of how I feel about watching the love/hate fest between Marco Rubio and Donald Trump," Grayson said .