Marco Rubio’s retreat

Will Marco Rubio ever stop atoning for his apostasy in having supported an overhaul of America’s immigration system? Or is he so politically pliable and ideologically biddable that he will say anything, and take any stance, to shield himself from the ugly nativism Donald Trump has tapped among Republican primary voters?

It was only in the spring that Mr. Rubio, speaking in Spanish to Univision, deemed “important” President Obama’s program to allow young people who entered the country illegally before age 16 to apply for work permits. He added: “It can’t be terminated from one moment to the next, because there are already people benefiting from it.”

Now, speaking in English in New Hampshire, Mr. Rubio has revised his views, saying the program should in fact be ended unless broad immigration reform is enacted— precisely the sort of broad reform he advocated in 2013, and later rejected in the face of right- wing outrage.

Mr. Rubio’s craven flip- flop is in keeping with other rightward tilts in the GOP primary field, particularly on immigration, as the candidates scramble not to be outflanked by Mr. Trump. Even former Florida governor Jeb Bush, while not repudiating his support for comprehensive immigration reform, now downplays talk of providing a path to legal status.

Mr. Rubio’s retreat has been especially stark given the prominent role he played as a member of the Gang of Eight bipartisan senators who wrote the 2013 immigration reform legislation. That bold bill, which passed the Senate but went nowhere in the House, elevated his status among establishment Republicans and many independents; it also put him in foul odor with the party’s anti- immigrant wing now so enamored of Mr. Trump’s hate- filled rhetoric.