The Washington Post tried on Wednesday to turn Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s trips to his son’s football games into a taxpayer scandal, then spent much of its own story explaining why it isn’t one. It was an impressive bit of self-owning.
The paper reported that Rubio has made 23 trips to Gainesville, Florida, on military aircraft since March 2025, including 15 classified as personal. He has attended at least 10 Florida Gators games over the last two seasons, including five this fall.
His son, Anthony Rubio, is a senior and walk-on running back for the Florida Gators.
Using Defense Department rates, the Post put the flight costs above $1.2 million.
It’s hard to imagine where the Post was going with this, but they clearly thought they had something. “Flying by pricey military jet, Rubio rarely misses a Florida football game,” the headline sneers.
But then you start dipping into the details.
The Washington Post is attacking Marco Rubio for attending his son’s college football games on US government planes. For security reasons Rubio must travel on these planes. So his only option is don’t go to his son’s games or use government planes. This is a nasty, unfair attack. https://t.co/7US9c6xYi2
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 11, 2026
The same report also noted that Rubio “is required to travel by government plane,” that, like the defense secretary and the directors of the FBI and CIA, he is “barred from flying commercially for security reasons,” and that when he travels for personal reasons he must “reimburse the government the equivalent of an economy-fare ticket.”
If that weren’t enough, a government ethics expert told the paper that “Rubio’s travel complies with federal rules.”
Impeach! Or something.
“I have and will continue to try and make it to as many events that are important to me personally and to my family as possible,” Rubio told the Post.
That did not stop the paper from framing the trips as a cost to taxpayers and reaching for a comparison to former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whose personal travel was audited during the Biden years. Even that didn’t work, as the Post itself pointed out that “the transportation secretary is not among the Cabinet members required to travel on military aircraft.”
Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson said the secretary of state, like the President, Vice President, and Secretary of War, is “REQUIRED to use military aircraft to maintain access to secure communications” and added that Rubio is “entirely unapologetic and will continue to attend as many of his family’s events as his jobs allow” — including “his son’s football games for his final year of college football.”
Johnson added that the Buttigieg comparison was “moronic.”
Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered an alternative headline: “Washington Post confirms Secretary Rubio is a great dad.”
The White House’s Rapid Response account was less gentle, calling the reporters “These morons.”
These morons (@noahwhite1782 and @RickMaese) are criticizing @SecRubio for attending his son’s college football games. He’s the greatest Secretary of State in modern history — and STILL manages to make his son’s games. GOD, FAMILY, COUNTRY!
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 12, 2026
Trying to frame a mundane story as a scandal certainly seems to confirm these reporters’ status. The editors, too. The second they saw their own ethics source say the travel follows the rules, they should have squashed the story.
But 2028 is on the horizon, and Rubio may end up being the Republican nominee for president. The Post clearly feels the smear campaigns have to begin posthaste.
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