Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) appears to be calculating that his dormant dream of becoming the first Hispanic president could be awakened by Donald Trump — by the same man who, in 2016, turned the senator’s presidential primary campaign into a comedic punchline.

With Rubio’s presidential ambition suppressed over the last eight years, his recent batch of controversial Trump-pleasing statements points to a newfound obeisance, whose aim might just be the vice presidential nomination.

Well established is Trump’s litmus test that potential running mates refuse to commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election. Last month, Rubio aced that test on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”

Then, after Trump became a convicted felon, Republican leaders and vice presidential “shortlist” candidates raced to the microphones for a chorus of outrage, but Rubio’s remarks were the most extreme.

On Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, said, “This is the quintessential show trial. This is what you see in communist countries. This is what I grew up having people in this community tell me about it happened in the days after the Castro revolution.”

Rubio’s sycophantic performance could be Trump’s vice presidential decision breakthrough — unlocking the White House gate for Rubio after his key was lost to young, unbridled ambition.

First elected to the Senate in 2010 at age 39, Rubio announced his presidential campaign on April 13, 2015. Numerous unenthusiastic Florida Republicans thought Rubio was “getting ahead of himself” or “in too much of a hurry” and “not ready to be president.”

Subsequently, the freshman senator was........

© The Hill