Newsom slams Marco Rubio for cosplaying as Maduro on Air Force One
Sacramento, California - California Governor Gavin Newsom trolled Secretary of State Marco Rubio for cosplaying as ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a recent trip aboard Air Force One.
"Hey Sean," Newsom said in a pointed message to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. "We found someone breaking your 'fly dressed nice' rule."
Tagged in the post was an image shared by White House Communications Director Steven Cheung on Wednesday showing Rubio wearing a gray tracksuit identical to the one worn by Maduro when he was abducted and transported to the US in January.
"Secretary Rubio rocking the Nike Tech 'Venezuela' on Air Force One!" Cheung had written alongside the image.
It seems that Rubio purposefully brought the outfit on board, as he was wearing a full suit-and-tie when he first boarded the plane, bound for Beijing.
The White House followed up Cheung's post with a short video referencing the outfit. In the clip, Rubio says, "Now, if you don't know, now you know" as it clips between pictures of Maduro and the secretary wearing the same tracksuit.
Newsom's decision to bring up Duffy, however, came in reference to a comment the transport secretary made in November criticizing the way that people dress when they're going on an airplane.
"Donald Trump talks about the golden age of transportation, the golden age of America," Duffy had said in a Fox News interview the week before Thanksgiving. "But the golden age in transportation truly begins with you, the traveler."
"If you just watch social media, you have brawls at the baggage claim, you have passengers berating gate agents. We have unruly passengers on airplanes. People dress up like they're going to bed when they fly," he complained.
Cover photo: Collage: AFP/Miikka Skaffari/Getty Images & AFP/Brendan Smialowski