Marco Rubio: Donald Trump would be selling watches

Brawling from the beginning, a fiery Marco Rubio went after front-runner Donald Trump in the last Republican presidential debate before the key ‘Super Tuesday’ contest, lashing out at his position on immigration, his privileged background, and his speaking style.

Ted Cruz joined in too, questioning the billionaire businessman’s conservative credentials, as the two senators tag-teamed Mr Trump in a debate that reflected the increasing urgency of their effort to take down the former The Apprentice host before he becomes unstoppable.

The confrontation in Houston, Texas, marked a rare night where bombastic Mr Trump found himself on the defensive.

The other two remaining candidates, Ben Carson and John Kasich, were largely left to watch the fireworks flying overhead.

The debate played out as a raucous night of tit-for-tat insults, with candidates shouting over one another so much that it was hard to follow at times.

The showdown came just days before the March 1 Super Tuesday 11-state round of mega-voting that could all but lock up the Republican nomination.

Mr Trump may well become the inevitable Republican after Super Tuesday, where 595 delegates are at stake. So far, after four primary and caucus contests, Mr Trump has 82 delegates, Mr Cruz has 17, and Mr Rubio has 16.

A candidate must have 1,237 state delegates to win the Republican nomination at the party’s convention this summer.

When Mr Trump faulted Mr Rubio on a deal to buy a $179,000 house, the Florida senator shot back that if Mr Trump “hadn’t inherited $200m, you know where Donald Trump would be right now? Selling watches in Manhattan.”

In another rough exchange, Mr Rubio accused Mr Trump of shifting his position on deportation, hiring people from other countries to take employment from Americans and being fined for worker breaches.

Joining in, Mr Cruz criticised Mr Trump for suggesting he alone had “discovered the issue of illegal immigration”.

Mr Trump shot back at Mr Rubio: “I hired tens of thousands of people. You’ve hired nobody.”

As for Mr Cruz, Mr Trump took a more personal tack, touting his own ability to get along with others and adding: You get along with nobody. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Both Mr Rubio and Mr Cruz said that Mr Trump had had to pay a $1m fine for illegal immigration hiring.

Mr Rubio was the principal aggressor of the night and he held nothing back.

Taking on Mr Trump’s declaration that he would build a wall on the Mexican border, Mr Rubio declared: “If he builds a wall the way he built Trump Tower, he’ll be using illegal immigration to do it.”