The best 13 minutes of his campaign, and compulsively watchable despite the length because of how sincere he seems. But where was this guy two nights ago at the debate? The newsiest bit comes from 7:45 to around 10:00 when he’s asked about his pledge to support the nominee. If you’re so bothered by what Trump’s doing, a reporter asks, why’d you reaffirm on Thursday night that you’ll back him? Rubio’s answer is pedestrian — I stand by that, although it’s getting harder every day — but his tone isn’t. He’s almost speechless for a second; his voice nearly cracks. He seems legitimately anguished, even to stalwart Rubio critics. I think he stood by the pledge out of expedience, to avoid being criticized for breaking a promise on the eve of the big vote in Florida, and now it’s reached the point where he can’t justify it to himself morally. He chose self-interest over conscience and he can’t reconcile it. He’s going to break his pledge eventually, though. Trumpism and the left’s anti-Trumpist reaction will only get worse en route to November.

Watch to the end if you can spare the time, as that’s when he starts talking, incisively, about Trump’s M.O. That also explains some of the anguish here, I’m sure. This guy thought he was going to lead a party that was fundamentally conservative. Now, not only is he coming to grips with the reality that he’s not going to lead it, he’s trying to cope with the fact that whatever it’s become, it’s not conservative. As for the fiasco last night in Chicago, Jazz is a thousand percent right: Trump had every right to hold that rally without leftist goons forcing him offstage. The heckler’s veto is immoral when jihadis exercise it against critics of Islam and it’s immoral when SJWs exercise it against Trump. Before we crown him America’s new free-speech martyr, though, never forget that his own opinion about heckler’s vetoes hasn’t always been so clear. Remember what happened last year when two Islamist scumbags tried to attack Pam Geller’s Mohammed cartoon contest?

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/595406508378173440

He didn’t just say that on Twitter, either. Trump cares about his right to speak free of intimidation, not yours. Look surprised.