Secretary of State Marco Rubio has brushed aside the White House press team's comparison of his outfit on Air Force One to the sweatsuit worn by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after his capture by U.S. forces. Rubio was photographed in a grey Nike tracksuit by White House communications director Steven Cheung on Wednesday as the president and his delegation traveled to China for a summit with Xi Jinping. In the image, an unsmiling Rubio posed with his hands in his pockets, wearing the pristine light-grey outfit.
White House Memes and 'Maduromaxxing'
Cheung captioned the photo: "Secretary Rubio rocking the Nike Tech 'Venezuela' on Air Force One!" This sparked a flurry of memes across MAGA-supporting circles on X. The New York Post ran with the headline: "Maduromaxxing." On Thursday, Rubio denied any prior knowledge that Cheung saw a resemblance between his attire and the jailed Venezuelan leader's.
"No, no, no," he said, laughing off the comparison when asked by NBC's Tom Llamas. "There's no context. It's a nice suit." When Llamas pressed that it was the "same one that Maduro was wearing," Rubio responded: "It is, but you know what? He copied me, because I had it before [him]."
Official White House Embrace of the Meme
Despite Rubio's denial, the official White House account ran with the meme after Cheung's initial post. A brief video shared from the official account showed Rubio quoting Biggie Smalls at a press conference following Maduro's capture: "if you don't know, now you know." The video then displayed side-by-side images of Maduro and Rubio over the rapper's 1994 track "Juicy."
Maduro was pictured blindfolded, handcuffed, and wearing ear protection after his capture on January 3 by U.S. forces at his compound in Caracas. He was brought aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier and transported to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges after a night raid by U.S. special forces.
Rubio's Role in China Summit
Rubio is part of Donald Trump's presidential delegation to China for a short visit, which included a major summit between Trump and Xi Jinping, the first of Trump's second term. Trump was serenaded with the Village People's "Y.M.C.A" during an elaborate state visit ceremony, and the U.S. president invited the Chinese leader to Washington in return.
Other members of the delegation included Elon Musk, Trump's on-again, off-again ally, and several American CEOs, such as BlackRock's Larry Fink and Nvidia's Jensen Huang. Vice President JD Vance was notably excluded from the trip and spent his week in Maine, as well as in an interview with the "looksmaxxing" streamer Clavicular, while Trump and his advisers discussed broadening U.S.-Chinese economic ties. The Strait of Hormuz and the ongoing war with Iran were also topics, according to the White House, as violence continues in the region and a U.S.-Iranian ceasefire deteriorates.
Rubio's Rising Star
Rubio's profile within the administration and broader MAGA world is rising as the president's top diplomat increasingly finds time in front of the camera under Trump's second term, while Vance has been relegated to less prominent duties. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) gathering in Texas this year, Rubio came within 20 points of Vance as the favorite among attendees to wear the MAGA crown in 2028, after barely registering in the poll's results just a year before.
