The Trump administration delivered a sweeping blow to the Cuban regime on Thursday, sanctioning its president, members of the Castro family dynasty, Cuba&#8217;s military ministry, and a gold mining operation that funnels wealth to regime elites.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has framed the Trump administration’s efforts as an existential campaign against a government he considers a direct threat to American security.
Secretary Rubio <a href="https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/06/sanctions-on-cuban-actors-responsible-for-subversive-anti-american-activities-fact-sheet/">announced the designations</a> under a May 1 <a href="https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/06/sanctions-on-cuban-military-instrumentalities-other-actors-responsible-for-subversive-anti-american-activities/">executive order,</a> targeting five Cuban entities and five individuals. At the top of the list: Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and his wife, Lis Cuesta Peraza, along with their stepson — as well as Alejandro Castro Espín, the son of Raúl Castro and former head of Cuban intelligence, and Castro Espín&#8217;s son. The Castro name is now, once again, directly in Washington&#8217;s crosshairs.
&#8220;The Cuban people are the hostages of a brutal and repressive government,&#8221; Rubio declared. &#8220;Which disregards their safety and prosperity to advance the Castro regime&#8217;s true purpose: serving as an outpost for our adversaries and exporting radical left-wing violence and terror across our hemisphere.&#8221;
The sanctions also hit Cuba&#8217;s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR), which controls vast swaths of the Cuban economy through military-owned enterprises. Any entity owned 50% or more by MINFAR — or by the previously designated military holding company GAESA — is considered blocked as well, strangling the military cartel&#8217;s economic empire. Rubio has <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5868122-rubio-us-sanctions-cuba-leadership/">previously called</a> GAESA &#8220;the heart of Cuba&#8217;s kleptocratic communist system.&#8221;
The State Department also sanctioned the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), a Fidel Castro-founded organization that U.S. officials say supports Cuban intelligence operations; the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, Cuba&#8217;s neighborhood surveillance network; and Minera la Victoria, a Cuban-Australian gold mining joint venture whose profits flow directly to the regime.
Foreign banks and companies that continue doing business with any of the designated parties now face their own sanctions exposure — a warning shot aimed squarely at international firms still profiting from the regime.
&#8220;We will continue to take action,&#8221; Rubio had warned on X in early May, &#8220;until the regime takes all necessary political and economic reforms.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Today’s sanctions demonstrate that the Trump Administration will not stand by while Cuba’s communist regime threatens our national security in our hemisphere. We will continue to take action until the regime takes all necessary political and economic reforms.
&mdash; Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) <a href="https://x.com/SecRubio/status/2052456966753026262?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 7, 2026</a></blockquote>
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US-POLITICS-TRUMP

Trump Targets Cuba’s Power Structure In Sweeping Blow To Communist Elites

Cuba

Donald Trump

Marco Rubio

State Department

WASHINGTON— U.S. embassies around the world will not be flying Pride flags this June, thanks to a State Department directive implemented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio shortly after he took office.
Rubio&#8217;s order prohibited State Department personnel from &#8220;conducting or participating in any public diplomacy outreach or representational activity&#8221; celebrating, commemorating, or recognizing theme day holidays or observances that are not official U.S. holidays or the subject of a U.S. Presidential proclamation, according to an internal State Department memo.
A separate State Department &#8220;One Flag Policy&#8221; also states that only the flag of the United States, a Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag, or the Hostages and Wrongful Detainees flag may be flown or displayed at U.S. facilities worldwide. That memo, <a href="https://freebeacon.com/trump-administration/trump-state-department-tells-embassies-and-outposts-only-fly-the-stars-and-stripes/">first reported by The Washington Free Beacon</a>, specifically notes: &#8220;Examples: Posts should not fly or display the Pride or Progress flag at the U.S. Embassy.&#8221;
&#8220;Per the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024, only the United States of America flag is authorized to be flown or otherwise publicly displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestic and abroad, and featured in U.S. government content,&#8221; the guidance states.
&#8220;No symbol or affiliation marking other than those authorized by U.S. statute, the President, or the Secretary may be displayed, projected, or exhibited at any U.S. facility, both domestic and abroad.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1106273" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-june-looks-different-at-u-s-embassies-under-marco-rubio/a-black-lives-matter-banner-a-united-states-national-flag" rel="attachment wp-att-1106273"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1106273" class="wp-image-1106273 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/GettyImages-1219978849-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/GettyImages-1219978849-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/GettyImages-1219978849-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/GettyImages-1219978849-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/GettyImages-1219978849.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>A Black Lives Matter banner, a United States national flag and a rainbow flag are hung on the facade of the US embassy building in Seoul. (Photo by Simon Shin/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)</div>
&#8220;The flag of the United States of America unites all Americans under the universal principles of justice, liberty, and democracy,&#8221; the Trump State Department guidance adds. &#8220;These values, which are the bedrock of our great country, are shared by all American citizens, past and present.&#8221;
A similar directive was issued during President Donald Trump&#8217;s first administration, when Mike Pompeo led the State Department (though some embassies defied the order and still flew the flags). Under President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken encouraged embassies to follow Biden&#8217;s lead in supporting &#8220;the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons and communities.&#8221;
The Biden State Department <a href="https://abcnews.com/Politics/biden-admin-grants-blanket-authorization-fly-pride-flag/story?id=77270757">gave embassies</a> &#8220;blanket written authorization&#8230;to display the Pride flag on the external-facing flagpole, for the duration of the 2021 Pride season.&#8221; Blinken had promised to do this during his confirmation hearings, during which he also promised to name a special LGBTQ envoy. His State Department also provided asylum categories for people who identify as LGBTQ and said they were fleeing persecution.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-june-looks-different-at-u-s-embassies-under-marco-rubio/screenshot-2026-06-01-at-5-10-51-pm" rel="attachment wp-att-1106261"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1106261 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-01-at-5.10.51-PM-720x576.png" alt="" width="720" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-01-at-5.10.51-PM-720x576.png 720w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-01-at-5.10.51-PM-300x240.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-01-at-5.10.51-PM-768x615.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-01-at-5.10.51-PM-1536x1229.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-01-at-5.10.51-PM.png 1752w" sizes=" (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" /></a>
The U.S. Embassy in Uruguay, for example, raised a Pride Flag in 2023. The embassy&#8217;s Ambassador Heide Fulton said at the time that “raising the Pride flag is a celebration of the hard-won accomplishments of LGBTQI+ activists and their allies, and a reaffirmation of our commitment to the work that still needs to be done to promote the protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of LGBTQI+ persons across the globe and within our own communities and workplaces.”
The State Department&#8217;s former Pride Month webpage is <a href="https://www.state.gov/pride-month/">no longer active</a>, and the department does not appear to be running any Pride Month promotions.
The State Department&#8217;s stance toward the theme, which celebrates adults and children who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex, is matched by the White House. Last year, the White House did not celebrate Pride Month at all, and the Department of Education <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-education-department-celebrates-title-ix-month-ditches-pride-month">instead declared</a> June “Title IX Month,” highlighting the Trump administration’s actions taken to protect female sports and spaces.
Asked by The Daily Wire on Monday if the White House will be observing Pride Month this June, a White House official responded: &#8220;We celebrate all Americans every day.&#8221;

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-BIDEN-LGBTQ-PRIDE

Why June Looks Different At U.S. Embassies Under Marco Rubio

Pride Month

Doctors in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) say that the Ebola virus is spreading at an “alarming” rate with over 1,000 suspected cases.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control <a href="https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/ebola-outbreak-democratic-republic-congo-and-uganda">says</a> the virus, which has a fatality rate of roughly 50%, has “increasing numbers of confirmed and suspected cases and deaths being reported.” As of Friday morning, there are 125 total confirmed cases and 906 suspected cases with 17 confirmed deaths and 223 suspected deaths.
&#8220;The outbreak is completely out of control,&#8221; said Dr. Richard Kojan, the president of the Alliance for International Medical Action, during an <a href="https://abcnews.com/International/control-doctors-frontline-ebola-outbreak-speak/story?id=133364928">interview</a> from the DRC&#8217;s Ituri Province.
Dr. Richard Lokudi, director of the main hospital in Mongbwalu, explained in another interview that the virus was spreading “at an exponential speed.”
The difficulty of containing this virus is due not only to it being the Bundibugyo virus, a strain of Ebola with no approved vaccine, but also because of disputes over local customs. Dr. Kojan said there is a “deep mistrust” among some local communities, hampering containment efforts. Residents have also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/05/28/congo-ebola-aid-bunia-who-tedros/607c60d4-5a96-11f1-8a9d-afb1148204e1_story.html">become angry</a> with health workers over the medical protocols for handling victims’ bodies, resulting in a “clash with local burial rites.” Three attacks have been launched against health centers in Ituri by residents.
Lokudi in an interview said that seven patients suspected of having Ebola escaped, creating ”chains and chains of contamination.&#8221;
On Wednesday, the <a href="https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2059772419250770096">Trump administration</a> said that Americans who were exposed to Ebola will be treated in a Kenya facility instead of flying home. Secretary of State Marco Rubio <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6396842926112">said</a>, “We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States.”
Rubio explained that there are multiple agencies involved, tracking people to prevent Ebola cases from entering the country.
“We feel like we’ve got good efforts in place to do that and America should feel assured that the president and his administration is doing everything we can to protect them all on that front,” Rubio said at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Ebola

Worries Spread As Ebola Outbreak Hits Grim Milestone

Africa

Democratic Republic of Congo

Health

WASHINGTON — The State Department is gathering European partners in an aggressive push to combat spikes in far-left terrorism around the world, The Daily Wire can first report.
American representatives will attend a law enforcement workshop in Europe this week focused on far-left terrorism, State Department officials told The Daily Wire, engaging other countries that are also grappling with the issue. The technical workshop will bring together officials from multiple European countries that have also seen increases in politically motivated violence tied to anarchist and far-left groups.
&#8220;We&#8217;re going to talk about what this threat stream looks like,&#8221; explained a State Department official, &#8220;what kind of targets that it&#8217;s engaging in, what kind of recent acts they&#8217;ve engaged in, what the tools are that we have to address this.&#8221;
A higher-level conference on the issue will be held in Washington, D.C. later this summer and will include officials from Europe, East Asia, and the Western Hemisphere.
The move comes as officials acknowledge a sharp increase in far-left terrorist incidents in the United States and Europe since 2016, particularly in France, Germany, Greece, and Italy.
In France, far-left anarchists <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/attack-train-system-highlights-broad-array-security-threats-paris-olym-rcna163921" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sabotaged a high-speed rail</a> in 2024 before the opening of the Olympic Games, and in 2026, beat a 23-year-old man, Quentin Deranque, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/21/world/quentin-deranque-death-france-intl">to death for his political beliefs</a>. Italy <a href="https://eucrim.eu/news/europol-te-sat-2025/">faced 18 terrorist attacks</a> from far-left militants in 2024, and in 2026, two such left-wing anarchists <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/news/italian-anarchists-blow-themselves-up-while-making-bomb/">blew themselves up</a> on the outskirts of Rome while making a bomb.
In Germany, the number of far-left actors <a href="https://www.bundestag.de/presse/hib/kurzmeldungen-920554">grew</a> from 10,300 in 2021 to 36,500 in 2022 — and a January 2026 Berlin <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/07/europe/berlin-power-outage-intl">power grid attack</a> by left-wing activists caused a five-day outage for more than 100,000 residents.
In Greece, more than 80% of violent events by radical organizations involved far-left and anarchist groups, <a href="https://acleddata.com/brief/radical-group-violence-rise-eu-acled-insight">according to the ACLED</a> (Armed Conflict Location &amp; Event Data), and more than 20 far-left individuals <a href="https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1230319/16-arrested-over-far-right-assault-on-police-in-athens/">were arrested in 2024 for attacks</a>, including targeting police.
<div id="attachment_1103391" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-state-department-organizing-global-push-against-far-left-terror/anti-government-protest-in-turin" rel="attachment wp-att-1103391"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1103391" class="wp-image-1103391 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-2258719645-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-2258719645-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-2258719645-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-2258719645-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-2258719645.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Clashes with police and protesters, including numerous anarchists and far-left activists from across Italy and abroad, in Turin, Italy, on January 31, 2026. (Photo by Andrea Carrubba/Anadolu via Getty Images)</div>
Notably, since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists, officials have noticed an &#8220;increased convergence&#8221; between these far-left groups and those participating in antisemitic violence, a State Department official shared. While they are very concerned about groups like Salafi jihadist terrorist groups, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS, they are also aware of the &#8220;new and emerging threats&#8221; presented by far-left groups and actors — and how all these groups cross over.
&#8220;A lot of these pro-Hamas, very violent groups that are operating in all of our respective countries, that these different groups are starting to converge with what you could call your far-left terrorist groups or anarchist groups, right, that engage in these kinds of terrorist violent acts.&#8221;
The State Department&#8217;s Counterterrorism operating system needs updates to address the reality of these threats, officials said, noting that the Department risks creating blind spots by ignoring these emerging trends.
&#8220;America First means protecting our country, people, and way of life—we are leveraging counterterrorism tools and global partnerships to deter this threat before it metastasizes,&#8221; the State Department official said.
On the home front, the State has already taken steps to dismantle both transnational far-left and anarchist terrorism by using visa restrictions to target individuals and designations against the Antifa aligned groups, Antifa Ost (Germany), Informal Anarchist Federation (Italy), Armed Proletarian Justice (Greece), and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense (Greece).
All of this is specifically targeting violent activity that meets the definition of terrorism, including assassinations, kidnappings, violent threats against U.S. facilities and law enforcement, attacks on critical infrastructure, military personnel, and civilians.
&#8220;Because our focus is international, we&#8217;ve been meeting with a lot of our partners to build a body of knowledge, so that we can better understand what this problem set looks like in their backyards, where there are transnational links, and then we&#8217;re also able to explore some best practices and other types of concerns,&#8221; explained the State Department official.
This specific workshop will be tailored towards far-left terrorism as a phenomenon, whether they engage in violent, terrorist, and criminal acts, particularly given that this area has become a blind spot for some law enforcement. As they take note of the rise in attacks, particularly those targeting critical infrastructure, U.S. partners are noticing that they lack the tools to address them properly.

Gemini_Generated_Image_5i7urp5i7urp5i7u

EXCLUSIVE: State Department Organizing Global Push Against Far-Left Terror

Antifa

Terrorism

WASHINGTON— The State Department is overhauling how it evaluates potential Foreign Service Officers, ending a process that administration officials say was &#8220;outdated&#8221; and widely known in the foreign diplomat community to be flawed.
State Department officials who spoke exclusively to The Daily Wire about the changes say they are being made to identify the &#8220;truly exceptional officers,&#8221; and fast-track them into the highly selective group of American diplomats.
The move is a significant shift aimed at modernizing the State Department under Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The new evaluation is a data-driven matrix system that will allow the State Department to properly assess Foreign Service Officers, designed to cut around favoritism and subjective narratives and properly assess personnel.
&#8220;Having been involved in supervising and evaluating personnel for many years in different contexts, I believe this change will restore accountability and ensure that evaluations reflect actual performance rather than inflated ratings designed to evade difficult conversations,&#8221; Deputy Secretary Chris Landau told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;For too long, our system rewarded consensus and score inflation instead of distinguishing between officers who consistently deliver results and those who do not, which undermined morale and weakened confidence in the promotion process,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This reform is consistent with the Trump administration’s emphasis on accountability in government, and many career Foreign Service Officers inside the building have quietly been calling for a more honest and rigorous evaluation system for years.&#8221;
The new approach will make it easier for State to assess performance accurately and recognize substantive contributions, one active foreign service officer shared with The Daily Wire on Friday, describing it as a &#8220;significant improvement over the previous system.&#8221;
&#8220;The revised framework provides clearer standards and more meaningful feedback, which will help ensure officers are evaluated fairly and matched with assignments that best align with our skills and experience in service to the Department’s mission,&#8221; the officer explained. &#8220;The new system clarifies to both supervisors and rated employees how well we are performing and, when appropriate, where we can improve.&#8221;
The department&#8217;s old process for evaluating its personnel has long been criticized by insiders as an agonizing, drawn-out bureaucratic exercise.
&#8220;We competed to see who could write the most effusive self-praise, all while smugly pretending to be modest,&#8221; another foreign service officer shared with The Daily Wire. &#8220;Because of the length of the essays, many supervisors had their employees ghost-write their own evaluations. Predictably, every employee was &#8216;one of the best officers I’ve met in my twenty-year career,&#8217; rendering the exercise largely meaningless.&#8221;
The process had become so bad that the department was swirling with rumors about secret codes that supervisors would insert into the evaluations to tip off the review boards about which officers were actually good performers. One foreign service officer insisted those rumors weren&#8217;t true, but pointed to their existence as proof that nobody trusted the current process.
&#8220;The rumors weren’t true but their existence alone was a scathing acknowledgment from employees that the reviews were meaningless,&#8221; the officer noted. &#8220;On top of all that, the process was so lengthy that the entire department essentially shut down for a month, postponing business while employees obsessed over their [Employee Evaluation Reports] and supervisors wrote lengthy statements for dozens of employees.&#8221;
&#8220;The current effort to simplify this process and connect it directly to achieving results for the American people is 100% welcome.&#8221;
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the new evaluation process was both developed and led by career Foreign Service Officers who understand the situation and are fixing problems that many other administrations should have dealt with prior.
&#8220;The updated system is data-driven, leverages best practices from across the government, and was designed thoughtfully to better assess the workforce and align employees with roles that best match their skills and experience,&#8221; he added. &#8220;It reflects a broader focus by the Trump administration and Secretary Rubio to pursue institutional reforms aimed at improving accountability and performance across the federal workforce.&#8221;

President Trump Meets With Visiting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

EXCLUSIVE: Trump State Dept Set To Overhaul Foreign Service

“This problem will be solved, as the president’s made clear, one way or the other.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered that blunt warning while hinting the Trump administration could be on the verge of a major breakthrough with Iran after weeks of escalating tensions tied to Operation Epic Fury and the growing standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to India, Rubio repeatedly teased that behind-the-scenes negotiations are actively underway and suggested a major development could come within days.
“There may be news later today,” Rubio said. “There may not be. I hope there will be. I’m not sure yet.”
Rubio’s comments also come as Trump appears to be quietly reshuffling his schedule because what’s happening between the United States and Iran is becoming increasingly serious behind the scenes.
Trump announced Friday that he would skip Memorial Day weekend plans and miss Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding celebration in the Bahamas in order to remain in Washington during what he described as an “important period of time” for the country.
Trump previously told reporters he had “a thing called Iran” preventing him from fully committing to attending the wedding.
The Trump administration has continued ramping up pressure on Iran following Operation Epic Fury, the joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign targeting Iranian military infrastructure and nuclear-linked facilities earlier this year.
Since then, tensions across the Middle East have continued boiling over as the White House pushes Tehran to back down from several key demands.
Among the administration’s biggest conditions: Iran must fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz without restrictions and hand over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Rubio suggested that progress may finally be happening.
“There’s been some progress done, some progress made,” Rubio said. “Even as I speak to you now, there’s some work being done.” 
He added that the administration could potentially have something to announce “later today, tomorrow, or in a couple days.”
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The Strait of Hormuz is now turning into one of the biggest pressure points in the entire Iran showdown.
Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply moves through the narrow waterway, meaning any disruption could immediately send shockwaves through the global economy and energy markets.
Rubio also reiterated one of President Donald Trump’s biggest red lines: Iran can never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.
“They need to turn over highly enriched uranium. We need to address that issue. We need to address the issue of enrichment,” Rubio said.
At the same time, Rubio emphasized that Trump still prefers to resolve the conflict diplomatically instead of militarily, though he made clear the administration believes the issue will ultimately be resolved regardless.
“These are the president’s points consistently,” Rubio said. “His preference is always to solve problems such as these through a negotiated diplomatic solution.”
Meanwhile, Iran appears to be publicly signaling some openness to negotiations for the first time in weeks.
Iranian officials confirmed that Tehran is working to finalize a “memorandum of understanding” with the United States through talks reportedly being mediated by Pakistan.
Still, Iranian officials are simultaneously insisting the United States has “nothing to do” with how the Strait of Hormuz is managed, showing just how shaky any possible agreement still is.
Rubio previously warned during a NATO foreign ministers meeting earlier this month that if Iran refuses to cooperate, the United States and its allies may ultimately be forced to intervene.
“Then someone’s going to have to go in and do something about it,” Rubio said at the time.

CHINA-US-DIPLOMACY

Rubio Drops Major Hint About Iran As Trump Clears His Schedule

Iran

President Trump

Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a fiery message to the Cuban people Wednesday, accusing the island’s communist leadership of enriching itself while ordinary citizens endure blackouts, food shortages, and repression. 
Rubio delivered the remarks in Spanish on Cuban Independence Day as reports emerged that the Department of Justice is expected to unveil criminal charges against former Cuban leader Raúl Castro over allegations that he ordered a 1996 attack on an aircraft belonging to the humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue, which left three American citizens dead. 
“The real reason you don&#8217;t have electricity, fuel, or food is because those who control your country have plundered billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people,” Rubio said in the video.
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🇺🇸🇨🇺 <a href="https://t.co/nwEePVJ1lX">pic.twitter.com/nwEePVJ1lX</a>
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecRubio/status/2057069290637889876?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Rubio alleged that GAESA — a secretive business conglomerate founded by Castro and operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces — now controls roughly 70% of Cuba’s economy and possesses billions in assets while ordinary Cubans struggle through prolonged daily power outages.
The secretary also outlined what he described as President Donald Trump’s vision for “a new Cuba,” promising U.S. aid and expanded economic opportunities if power shifts away from the communist system. 
Rubio said the administration is offering $100 million in food and medicine to the Cuban people, but insisted the aid must bypass the Cuban government and instead be distributed by trusted religious or charitable organizations such as the Catholic Church.
“President Trump is offering a new relationship between the U.S. and Cuba. But it must be directly with you, the Cuban people, not with GAESA,” Rubio said. “A new Cuba where you, the ordinary Cuban, and not just GAESA, can own a gas station or a clothing store, or a restaurant.”
Rubio also argued that Cubans are seeking more than humanitarian assistance, saying they want the same economic opportunities and freedoms enjoyed by relatives living abroad. 
“Today, from media to entertainment, from the private sector to politics, and from music to sports, Cubans have reached the top of virtually ALL industries, in all countries, except one: Cuba,” he said.
According to reports from <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/05/20/raul-castro-indictment-trump-cuba/90167960007/">USA Today</a>, Castro is expected to face murder-related charges connected to allegations that he directed Cuban MiG fighter pilots to shoot down the unarmed civilian planes near Cuban airspace.
An audio recording reportedly captured months after the incident allegedly features a voice identified as Castro discussing the operation.
“I told them [the MiG pilots] to try to knock them down over [Cuban] territory,” the voice allegedly said. “Well, knock them down into the sea when they reappear.”
The 1996 incident remains one of the most controversial confrontations between the United States and Cuba since the Cold War. 
Although Castro formally stepped down from power in 2021, he is still widely viewed as influential within Cuba.
Some observers have speculated that an indictment could significantly escalate tensions between Washington and Havana and potentially open discussions about stronger American action against the Cuban regime. Comparisons have been drawn to the Trump administration’s arrest of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, who was also indicted.
Rubio closed his address by arguing that the only obstacle preventing Cuba from becoming more prosperous and democratic is the current leadership itself.
“In the U.S., we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people and our countries,” Rubio said. “And, currently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country.”

Secretary Of State Marco Rubio Meets With Visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty At The State Department

Rubio Outlines Vision For ‘New Cuba’ As Possible Raúl Castro Indictment Looms

Raul Castro

President Donald Trump gave his seal of approval Thursday to Marco Rubio’s now-viral “Maduro tracksuit” look, joking to reporters that the secretary of state pulled off the outfit better than most.
“I thought he looked very good in the sweatsuit. I don’t know if I’d do it, but I thought he looked very good,” Trump said aboard Air Force One when asked about Rubio’s gray Nike tracksuit, which has exploded online as one of the administration’s latest meme moments. 
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Trump dishes on Rubio’s ‘Maduro’ Nike fit" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7KUcSbalKpQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Rubio <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/marco-rubio-is-actually-wearing-nicolas-maduros-nike-sweatsuit-on-air-force-one">turned heads</a> on Tuesday when White House communications officials posted a photo of him aboard Air Force One en route to China wearing the same gray Nike Tech sweatsuit made famous by the January capture of Nicolás Maduro. The image immediately went viral because Maduro was photographed in an almost identical outfit when U.S. forces arrested and extradited him to New York City earlier this year to face federal criminal charges. 
The White House leaned into the joke, posting a side-by-side video comparing Rubio and Maduro in the same outfit, dubbing it a “full circle moment.” Online, users jokingly coined the term “Maduromaxxing,” while others called the move classic Rubio trolling, especially given his longtime hawkish stance toward socialist strongmen in Latin America.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Full circle moment <a href="https://t.co/6hkxyGNo8J">pic.twitter.com/6hkxyGNo8J</a>
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2054338104316547154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The tracksuit itself has taken on an oddly specific internet fame since Maduro’s capture, becoming a kind of inside joke among younger online conservatives and meme pages. Rubio, who was traveling with Trump for the president’s high-profile Beijing visit, appeared unfazed by the attention, though the outfit briefly overshadowed the diplomatic mission itself.
The White House has increasingly embraced internet-native political humor. Even at 30,000 feet on the way to a summit with Beijing, there was still time to troll a deposed dictator.

Marco Rubio/Donald Trump

Trump Dishes On Rubio’s ‘Maduro’ Nike Fit

Nicolas Maduro

For most high-ranking diplomats, a misprinted nameplate would be a minor annoyance or a subtle dig. For Marco Rubio, it&#8217;s a victory.
When the Secretary of State joined President Donald Trump for Thursday&#8217;s bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, his last name was slightly misspelled. The reason? Beijing has twice sanctioned Rubio and effectively barred him from entering the country. But Rubio is America&#8217;s top diplomat, and Trump would not have undertaken such a high-stakes state visit without him. So, the Chinese Communist Party devised a linguistic workaround to allow Rubio entry without formally lifting the sanctions.
Chinese Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said this week that the sanctions targeted Rubio’s “words and deeds when he served as a U.S. senator concerning China.”
According to Garrett Exner, those words and deeds comprise a “remarkably clear-eyed&#8221; assessment of the CCP&#8217;s faults.
“Likely because of his Cuban background, Rubio sees communism for the evil it is and has no issue calling it out,” Exner, a fellow at the Hudson Institute, told The Daily Wire. “It is a win for President Trump that he forced China’s hand in changing their own rules to bring his Secretary of State.”
As a senator, Rubio was a leading critic of Beijing&#8217;s treatment of the Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang region and an outspoken supporter of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. For that and more, China brought the hammer down on Rubio in 2020 — something the then-Florida senator met with humor.
“Last month China banned me,” Rubio wrote at the time. “Today they sanctioned me. I don’t want to be paranoid but I am starting to think they don’t like me.”
Rubio&#8217;s joking tone in no way belies an unserious approach to China. While traveling to China aboard Air Force One, Rubio described Beijing as America’s top geopolitical rival and <a href="https://x.com/foxnews/status/2054668282288873637?s=46&amp;t=ghpHusspWPjTMisXwpsMaA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> that it seeks to displace the United States as the world’s dominant power.
“It’s both our top political challenge geopolitically and it’s also the most important relationship for us to manage,” Rubio said. “It’s a big powerful country and it’s going to continue to grow.”
Rubio added that the United States and China will inevitably have conflicting interests but argued the relationship must still be managed carefully to avoid military conflict.
“We’re going to have interests of ours that are going to be in conflict with interests of theirs; to avoid wars and maintain peace and stability in the world, we’re gonna have to manage those,” Rubio said.
Years earlier, Rubio contrasted China with Russia, arguing that Chinese ambitions posed the more serious long-term threat.
“Under Putin, Russia is trying to undermine the U.S.,” Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1122829094956294149" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote in 2019</a>. “But Xi aims for China to displace us. Putin efforts must be addressed. But in the big picture Xi challenge is a far bigger threat.”
In another 2019 <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1118153016505507841" target="_blank" rel="noopener">X post</a>, Rubio wrote: “Problem isn’t people of China — it’s Xi govt economic cheating &amp; stealing &amp; human rights abuses.”
Rubio has also repeatedly singled out Chinese President Xi Jinping personally, arguing that Xi’s leadership has damaged China’s global standing through aggressive foreign policy, human rights abuses, and COVID-era secrecy.
In a 2020 <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1265608222414643200" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a>, Rubio wrote that “history will say Xi’s aggressiveness backfired &amp; inflicted tremendous damage on China globally,” citing the mass detention of Uyghurs, “Coronavirus coverups,” and the rise of China’s so-called “Wolf Warrior Diplomats.”
<h3>Rubio’s Long Campaign For Uyghurs</h3>
One of the primary reasons Beijing sanctioned Rubio was his outspoken criticism of China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region, which has included accusations of mass surveillance, persecution, arbitrary arrests, torture, forced labor, sexual violence, forced sterilization, and genocide. China has denied such abuses have taken place.
In 2020, Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1317059934551494657" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> that China’s actions amounted to “a systematic state sponsored crime against humanity.”
He later <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1319639154272161801" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pushed</a> the State Department to formally determine whether Beijing’s actions constituted genocide.
Rubio additionally introduced the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which was signed into law in 2021. The law blocks goods made with forced labor in Xinjiang from entering American markets.
Rubio also has a history of calling out American corporations he believed were benefiting from Chinese forced labor practices, <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1432422169666072576" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticizing Nike</a> in 2021 for selling products made by &#8220;600 Uyghurs in forced labor at the factory in Qingdao.&#8221; But the treatment of Uyghurs is not the only venue for Rubio&#8217;s vehement criticism of China.
<h3>Rubio Supported Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Protesters</h3>
Rubio emerged as one of the most vocal supporters of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019 and 2020, which were met with a brutal crackdown from the Chinese government.
At the time, Rubio repeatedly accused the Communist Party of violating its international commitments and dismantling the territory’s promised autonomy.
In May 2020, Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1263630684830171139" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blasted</a> Chinese officials after they accused him of placing “unjustifiable pressure” on China.
“Wrong,” Rubio responded. “China’s Communist Party is breaking its international commitments to respect Hong Kong’s autonomy &amp; democracy.”
Rubio also <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1838" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, legislation authorizing sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials responsible for undermining freedoms in the territory. The bill received near-unanimous support in Congress.
In 2019, Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1161592939778334721" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> that Hong Kong was “a cautionary lesson for anyone thinking about any deal with them.”
“They signed a treaty promising autonomy &amp; democracy for Hong Kong,” Rubio said. “They will agree to anything to get a deal. But they have no intention of keeping those promises.”
In 2020, Rubio warned that the Chinese Communist Party “should never be trusted to keep any international agreement they enter into,” <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1263543790683504640" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arguing</a> that Beijing “will lie to get any deal” before ultimately doing “whatever they want” once it serves their interests.
<h3>Rubio Repeatedly Defended Taiwan</h3>
Throughout his career, Rubio has never shied away from one of the most contentious issues between the United States and China: Taiwan. Rubio has consistently defended Taiwan and rejected Beijing’s territorial claims over the self-governing island.
In 2020, Rubio warned that China would attempt to intimidate Taiwan through propaganda and psychological pressure.
“But they will fail,” Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1263075520360701954" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>. “Taiwan will not be scared into surrendering their liberty &amp; America stands with them.”
Rubio also pushed for stronger U.S. diplomatic engagement with Taiwan, including urging the Trump administration in 2019 to send a high-level American official to events marking the anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act.
“Taiwan faces unprecedented threats from China,” Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1102937750339239942" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>. “The U.S. must make our support clear.”
After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Rubio also argued that the international community should support Taiwanese independence if China was willing to recognize Russian-backed separatist territories.
“Since China supports recognizing the independence of Russian puppets in Ukraine maybe it’s time the world supports the independence of the legitimate government of Taiwan,” Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1498825760924176391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> days after the invasion.
In October, Rubio reassured Taiwan supporters by saying the Trump administration would not negotiate away Taiwan’s future in exchange for a trade deal with Beijing.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t think you&#8217;re going to see some trade deal where, if what people are worried about is we&#8217;re going to get some trade deal or we&#8217;re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan,&#8221; Rubio <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/rubio-says-taiwan-should-not-be-concerned-about-us-china-talks-2025-10-25/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;No one is contemplating that.&#8221;
<h3>Rubio Fought For Truth On COVID</h3>
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rubio emerged as one of the leading voices demanding accountability from Beijing and investigating the origins of the virus.
In 2020, Rubio accused the Communist Party of politicizing the pandemic and exploiting the crisis “for publicity and profit.”
“It proves how they politicize everything because everything, even public health, is subservient to the party,” <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1250461554979594243" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rubio wrote</a>.
In a <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-Y4_IN8_19-PURL-gpo212742/pdf/GOVPUB-Y4_IN8_19-PURL-gpo212742.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lengthy report</a> released in 2022, Rubio pointed to evidence suggesting Chinese authorities may have known about a dangerous outbreak well before publicly acknowledging it in December 2019.
The report also argued there were signs of a possible “serious biocontainment failure or accident” involving the Wuhan Institute of Virology during the second half of 2019.
In a 2023 Fox News <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1649035485648388097" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a>, Rubio said that China does not want the world to know how COVID started.
“This probably was a lab leak accident. Someone got infected, it has now spread across the world and the totalitarian Communist government in China doesn’t want the world to know about it.”
In an <a href="https://senatormarcorubio.medium.com/the-chinese-communist-party-is-dangerous-deceptive-and-self-serving-d7fdc7cb4890#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">op-ed</a> the same year, Rubio argued that the COVID origins controversy was only one example of broader Chinese infiltration efforts targeting American institutions and corporations.
“The Chinese Communist Party is dangerous, deceptive, and self-serving,” Rubio wrote.
Rubio pointed to reports claiming CCP members were embedded inside major Western companies and called for legislation targeting Chinese influence operations, espionage efforts, and military cooperation loopholes.
<h3>Rubio Warned About Chinese Espionage In America</h3>
Rubio has repeatedly warned that the Chinese government was using students, researchers, and businesses to advance Beijing’s military and intelligence capabilities.
In 2020, Rubio praised moves targeting Chinese students allegedly involved in stealing American research.
“Good move to address China using some students at our universities to steal research &amp; advance military capabilities,” <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1265951910886019072" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rubio wrote</a> regarding Chinese graduate students being expelled if they have ties to China’s military schools.
At the same time, Rubio warned Americans not to direct hostility toward ordinary Chinese citizens.
“This must be addressed in a targeted way while rejecting xenophobia,” Rubio added. “Remember, China’s govt often entraps its own people into this.”
Rubio also pushed <a href="https://joewilson.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-joe-wilson-r-sc-and-senator-marco-rubio-r-fl-introduce-the" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legislation</a> aimed at exposing Chinese influence operations inside American universities.
In 2018, Marco Rubio introduced the Foreign Influence Transparency Act, which sought to require organizations such as Confucius Institutes to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act if they promoted the political agenda of a foreign government.
“This legislation aims to bring greater transparency to the activities of foreign governments operating in the United States,” Rubio said at the time, arguing the bill would strengthen foreign funding disclosure requirements for colleges and universities while closing loopholes that allowed Chinese government-linked entities to operate on more than 100 American campuses.
With even Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-takes-a-spontaneous-2028-presidential-straw-poll-vance-or-rubio" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stoking speculation</a> as to whether his Secretary of State will run for president in 2028, it&#8217;s clear that Rubio isn&#8217;t going anywhere. No doubt Beijing is thinking a lot about that.

Sanctioned By China, Marco Rubio Represents America In Beijing

China

Taiwan

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that his current job is different from any position he&#8217;s ever held, and he credits President Donald Trump for making that difference.
During a brief interview aboard Air Force One, en route to Beijing for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-set-to-land-in-china-for-high-stakes-talks-with-xi">President Trump&#8217;s summit</a> with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Rubio explained that Trump was different because he was willing to actually do the things that most politicians only paid lip service to.
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Why Rubio says working for Trump is unlike any job he’s ever had" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3TfXfDvIGM0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Fox News host Sean Hannity, aboard the presidential plane, spoke with Rubio on a number of issues — but zeroed in on his jacket as they began to wrap things up: &#8220;I think just to be Secretary of State, that’s a pretty cool jacket they gave you.&#8221;
&#8220;Yeah, it was a gift that somebody gave me, and it’s good to wear it on the plane,&#8221; Rubio agreed.
&#8220;Are you in – look, you were a senator for all these years. I’ve known you for so many years. We’ve had a friendship for so many years,&#8221; Hannity said, asking, &#8220;How do you compare this job to everything else you’ve done? &#8221;
&#8220;Well, it’s quite different, right?  The work of a legislator involves constituent service, and it involves writing of legislation, committee meetings, oversight.  And I enjoyed doing all of that, and it was an important era in our life,&#8221; Rubio said of his previous experience in the Senate before pivoting to address his current role.
&#8220;This was a very different opportunity. This is in the Executive Branch. Here you’re actually executing on laws, and you’re – basically, you’re executing the President’s foreign policy. So I enjoy the role, I enjoy the job, and I enjoy working for this President because he’s willing to do what others talk about but don’t do,&#8221; Rubio added. &#8220;When you say, &#8216;Well, we can’t do that,&#8217; and you’ll say, &#8216;Why?&#8217; That’s his question. Why? Why can’t we do that? Why hasn’t this been done before? He is willing to do what others are not willing to do.  He is willing to solve unfinished business and not leave it for the next guy or gal. And I admire that, and it’s a lot of fun to be a part of it.&#8221;
Hannity also joked about the fact that Rubio has worn a number of hats within President Trump&#8217;s second administration — prompting a flood of memes and jokes as well as the open question whether he will be the one to at least temporarily fill any job that opens up in the future.
The former Florida senator has leaned in to the joke himself, popping into the briefing room to pose as acting White House Press Secretary the day after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/marco-rubio-adds-another-job-title-to-his-resume">Karoline Leavitt</a> signed out to begin her maternity leave.

Rubio Reveals Why His Role Under Trump Is Unlike Any Job He’s Ever Had

Why Rubio Says Working For Trump Is Unlike Any Job He's Ever Had

Global Politics

Politics

Marco Rubio is stealing a look from Nicolás Maduro.
Aboard Air Force One on his way to China with President Donald Trump, the secretary of state is rocking the Nike sweatsuit that was worn by Maduro after he U.S. forces arrested him and extradited him to New York to face criminal charges, according to a picture posted by White House official Steven Cheung. 
&#8220;Secretary Rubio rocking the Nike Tech ‘Venezuela’ on Air Force One!&#8221; wrote Cheung.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Secretary Rubio rocking the Nike Tech ‘Venezuela’ on Air Force One! 😂 <a href="https://t.co/yi1b1mR8M0">pic.twitter.com/yi1b1mR8M0</a>
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) <a href="https://twitter.com/StevenCheung47/status/2054325027659448711?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2026</a></blockquote>
The White House immediately posted a <a href="https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2054338104316547154?s=20">video</a> that shows Rubio and Maduro both in the same clothes.
The short clip starts off with Rubio&#8217;s now-famous quoting of<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JZom_gVfuw"> The Notorious B.I.G.&#8217;s &#8220;Juicy&#8221;</a> on January 3, 2026, saying,<a href="https://x.com/StateDept/status/2007530937362321732?s=20"> &#8220;If you don&#8217;t know, now you know,&#8221;</a> referencing the overnight capture of  Maduro.
Then, the video transitions to a cropped photo shared by President Trump on Truth Social showing the blindfolded Venezuelan leader dressed in the gray Nike sweatsuit aboard a U.S. naval warship en route to the United States, his ears covered with noise-canceling headphones. At the very end, the video has straight-faced Rubio donning the same outfit aboard Air Force One.
&#8220;Full circle moment,&#8221;<a href="https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2054338104316547154?s=20"> the White House said on social media. </a>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Full circle moment <a href="https://t.co/6hkxyGNo8J">pic.twitter.com/6hkxyGNo8J</a>
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2054338104316547154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2026</a></blockquote>
&#8220;Maduromaxxing,&#8221; one X user posted.
&#8220;Haters will say it&#8217;s AI,&#8221; a White House official said.
&#8220;Marco Rubio will be next President based on the memes alone,&#8221; said another user.
The gray Nike Tech suit became a viral social media meme following Maduro&#8217;s capture. The specific Nike Tech suit featured in the Maduro photo carries cultural significance, particularly for younger men in the worlds of rap music and sports.
The morning after Maduro&#8217;s capture, Rubio hammered the<a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/nicol-s-maduro-moros-and-14-current-and-former-venezuelan-officials-charged-narco-terrorism"> indicted narco-terrorist</a> and used the moment to reinforce the administration&#8217;s messaging. 
&#8220;I hope what people now understand is we have a president, the 47th president of the United States, is not a game player. When he tells you that he&#8217;s going to do something, when he&#8217;s going to tell you he&#8217;s going to address a problem, he means it,&#8221; Rubio said.
&#8220;This is a president of action, like, I don&#8217;t understand yet how they haven&#8217;t figured this out. And now, if you don&#8217;t know, now you know, because this is the way it&#8217;s going to play out,&#8221; he added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨 HOLY SMOKES. Marco Rubio LAYS THE HAMMER on Maduro &#8211; and warns the entire world
&#8220;He likes to PLAY GAMES and thinks NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. I hope people understand President Trump is NOT A GAME PLAYER!&#8221;
&#8220;He wanted to play BIG BOY?&#8221;
&#8220;IF YOU DON&#8217;T KNOW, NOW YOU KNOW.&#8221; 
🔥🔥🔥🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/MS8lWsaAvL">pic.twitter.com/MS8lWsaAvL</a>
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2007501274095427893?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2026</a></blockquote>

HIJ5e5SW4AAxgbD

Marco Rubio Is Actually Wearing Nicolas Maduro’s Nike Sweatsuit On Air Force One

News

A new poll shows Secretary of State Marco Rubio leading a hypothetical 2028 Republican presidential primary to succeed President Donald Trump.
The survey, <a href="///Users/jacobwheeler/Downloads/Atlas%20Poll%20USA%20-%2005.07.2026%20-%20Google%20Slides.pdf">conducted by AtlasIntel</a> between May 4-7 among 2,069 American adults, found Rubio with 45.4% support, followed by Vice President JD Vance at 29.6%. 
The rest of the field trailed significantly.  
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Marco Rubio: 45.4%</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">JD Vance: 29.6% </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Ron DeSantis: 11.2% </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">None of the above 10.3%</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Vivek Ramaswamy: 1.4</li>
</ul>
The AtlasIntel poll is the first to show Rubio ahead, while broader polling still favors Vance.<a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/republican-primary/2028/national"> RealClearPolitics</a>, a media company that aggregates national polling, shows the vice president holding a 20-point advantage over other potential candidates.
Rubio and Vance are widely seen as the most serious contenders to succeed Trump and shape the future of the MAGA movement.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-takes-a-spontaneous-2028-presidential-straw-poll-vance-or-rubio">Trump addressed the elephant in the room</a> at the White House on Monday, polling a crowd on whether they would prefer Vance or Rubio to run for president in 2028. 
“I don’t know. Who’s it going to be? Is it going to be JD? Is there going to be somebody else? I don’t know,” Trump told a group of law enforcement officials.
The kingmaker of GOP politics then asked the crowd who they thought should succeed him. 
“Who likes JD Vance? Who likes Marco Rubio? All right. Sounds like a good ticket,” Trump joked.
Applause from those in attendance appeared stronger for Vance, but Trump said he was not yet making any endorsements.
“By the way, I do believe that’s a dream team. But these are minor details. That does not mean you have my endorsement under any circumstance. But you know … I think it sounds like presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate,” Trump said. 
Rubio said last year that he would support Vance if the vice president decided to run for president. 
“If JD Vance runs for president, he’s going to be our nominee, and I’ll be one of the first people to support him,” Rubio <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/trump-susie-wiles-interview-exclusive-part-2?_sp=66ff928d-0547-4be8-9f21-3d5c5d7322ce.1773164665694">told</a> Vanity Fair in an interview. 
On the Democratic side, the field appears more divided and open-ended, with a democratic socialist leading the pack. 
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"> Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: 26%</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Pete Buttigieg: 22.4% </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Gavin Newsom: 21.2% </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Kamala Harris: 12.9% </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Andy Beshear: 4.1% </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Cory Booker: 3.9% </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">None Of The Above: 3.1%</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Josh Shapiro: 2.4%</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Gretchen Whitmer: 1.1%</li>
</ul>
Last Friday, AOC did not rule out a presidential run. 
“They assume that my ambition is a title or a seat, and my ambition is way bigger than that. My ambition is to change this country,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a conversation with Democratic strategist David Axelrod. “Presidents come and go … elected officials come and go, but single-payer healthcare is forever.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
AOC asked about a potential presidential run
&#8220;My ambition is to change this country.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/Pd770HL9JC">pic.twitter.com/Pd770HL9JC</a>
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) <a href="https://twitter.com/DefiantLs/status/2053706667368337506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2026</a></blockquote>

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