Sen. Marco Rubio Monday night went on a
Twitter rant for about an hour over a pair of Washington Post stories about his plans following his failed bid for the GOP presidential nomination, accusing the "people close" to him who are quoted as making up their claims.
The Florida Republican's tweetstorm began shortly after 11 p.m. Monday, when he linked a tweet to a
Post story about five people, including himself, who would never become Donald Trump's running mate:
Shortly after that, Rubio linked to an
old story the Post published in October, saying that he had given up on the Senate because "he hates it":
Over the course of the next hour,
Rubio posted eight more tweets on his account, insisting that he plans to finish out his Senate term in January before returning to private life in Florida, which he said he has stated "like 10,000 times."
He also hinted at launching a run for the presidency from private life at sometime in the future, sarcastically asking, "It's nearly impossible for someone not in office to ever become a successful candidate for President. Right?"
And after a few posts taunting "close sources" who said that he has plans for a cardio workout and more sleep before he returns to the Senate on Tuesday to vote on Zika legislation, Rubio wrapped up his tweetstorm by joking that he had perhaps jumped back into Twitter too fast:
In the Post's story about Trump's potential running mates, Post political writer Chris Cillizza writes in his column, "The Fix," that according to conversations he had "with people close to" Rubio, is "betwixt and between when it comes to his next move. Despite some urging to reconsider his plans to retire from the Senate, Rubio seems likely to stand firm and head out in November."
Cillizza fired back on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program Tuesday, saying that nothing in Rubio's tweets got "to the point, which is he doesn't know what he's going to do next. People are trying to get him to run for governor in 2018.
"I don't think he's going to do that . . . Marco Rubio is not certain what he does next. He has a bridge between now and the next time he can run for president and stay relatively high profile within the party. "