They've called Donald Trump a "con artist" and a "fraud" and said he lacks the temperament to be president.
But the three anti-Trump candidates for the Republican nomination — Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich — all said they'll back Trump if he's their party's nominee.
Politics: #NeverTrump means never, ever, ever, ever, ever Trump - unless he's the Republican nominee. #GOPdebate— Manuel Roig-Franzia (@RoigFranzia) March 4, 2016
"Tonight, can you say you can support the nominee, even if it's Donald Trump?" moderator Megyn Kelly asked the men on stage.
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));Marco Rubio: Donald J. Trump is a con artist.Ted Cruz: He's guilty of fraud.Moderator: Will you support him as the Republican nominee then? Both: Oh, of course!Posted by Mashable News on Thursday, March 3, 2016
Rubio, who has been toughest on Trump in recent weeks, said he will honor the pledge he made at the beginning of the race to support the eventual Republican nominee.
"I will support the Republican nominee," Rubio said. "Because the Democrats have two people left in the race. One of them is a socialist. America doesn't want to be a socialist country. If you want to be, then move to a socialist country. The other one is under FBI investigation."
Cruz said he would support Trump because he "gave [his] word that [he] would."
But Cruz said after Super Tuesday, in which he won three of the 11 states, that he is in a strong position to defeat Trump for the nomination.
Kasich also said he'll support the nominee, but that he refused to believe that the nominee would be Trump.
"I think before it's said and done, I'll be the nominee," Kasich said, to laughs.
#MaybeTrump— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) March 4, 2016
Even Trump, who has flirted with the idea of running as an independent, said he'd back the eventual nominee — even if it's not him.
"Even if it's not me?" Trump said jokingly.
"Yes. I will," he added.