Rubio on Trump: ‘It’s fun to watch him blow up’

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says he enjoys provoking Donald Trump and watching the GOP front-runner “blow up.”

“From time to time we’ll respond, because it’s fun to watch him blow up even more,” Rubio said on Thursday of Trump’s barbs, according to NBC Boston.

{mosads}“He’s a guy that’s sensitive to criticism,” he added. “So he reacts these ways, and it is what it is. This is how he gets attention.”

Rubio’s remarks are the latest in a war of words with Trump that started earlier this summer.

Trump has repeatedly criticized Rubio’s Senate voting attendance as a sign he’s an immature “kid.” Rubio has countered that the outspoken billionaire is “touchy and insecure.”

In the interview, Rubio also dismissed claims that he is feuding with former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Fla.), another GOP presidential hopeful

“This is not about running against Jeb or any of the other people running,” he said.

Rubio refused to say whether he would tap Bush as a cabinet member if the senator won in 2016.

“Well, I don’t know if he wants that, [so] it’s premature to talk about that,” he said.

“He’s easily a guy who’s very qualified and could do a number of jobs,” Rubio added of his one-time political mentor in Florida.

Rubio, 44, also rejected parallels to President Obama. Critics say that Rubio, like Obama, would be an untested commander in chief with only one term in the Senate.

“Barack Obama hasn’t failed because he was in the Senate for two years, he’s failed because his ideas don’t work,” Rubio said. “He has seven years of executive experience now, and he’s still making bad decisions.”

Rubio is fourth nationally in the GOP field with 9.9 percent support according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls. Trump is the front-runner, averaging 23.2 percent support.