U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives to brief members of Congress on the situation in Venezuela, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 5, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Although President Donald Trump's second administration is dominated by MAGA Republicans, Trump went with a more traditional conservative when he chose former Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) for secretary of state. Rubio, in contrast to all the Trump appointees who encountered stern opposition from Democratic lawmakers, was unanimously confirmed in the U.S. Senate. Not a single Democratic senator voted against his confirmation.
But many Democratic senators who voted for Rubio, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (R-New York), are now scathing critics of Trump's foreign policy — including the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his threat to annex Greenland.
In a video aired on Tuesday night, January 6, CBS News describes Rubio as "the face of U.S. foreign policy and President Trump's point man on Venezuela — all in addition to his roles as secretary of state, interim national security adviser, and acting national archivist."
CBS News' Tony Dokoupil commented, "Whatever you think of his politics, it's an impressive resumé."
CBS News' reporting is drawing a lot of reactions on X, formerly Twitter. And some of them are downright scathing.
Photojournalist Steve Rhodes slammed CBS News' reporting as "puff" journalism.
Rhodes tweeted, "It was disgraceful you ran that puff piece full of AI slop images missing the story of what Marco Rubio said on Jan 6 [and] is silent on now after this when you should have had @MacFarlaneNews who is an expect on what happened Jan 6 do a story on the lies of Trump & the White House."
Conservative Republican Sarah Matthews, who served as deputy White House press secretary during Trump's first presidency but is now a vehement critic of him, posted a biting tweet as well — writing, "Would love a reporter to ask @marcorubio how the White House's bs J6 timeline claiming Mike Pence could reject ballots squares with how he felt the day after Jan. 6, 2021."
Rhodes highlighted Matthews' tweet, referencing CBS News head Bari Weiss and posting, "Since @bariweiss has access to the Trump admin, you could've asked Marco Rubio this instead of doing that horrid puff piece."
Sports reporter Andrew Jerell Jones tweeted, "Even Fixed Propaganda (Fox News), Newxmax and OANN would struggle to produce this cringe cheerleading for this ReNutican extremist, clownish group."
But Virginia-based Michelle Maxwell, a self-described "proud MAGA Trump supporter," had a humorous reaction to CBS News' reporting and referenced the Hedleys — a fictional family of Jamaican immigrants on the 1990s sketch comedy show "In Living Color." The Hedleys prided themselves on their strong work ethic, chastising people for having "only one job."
Maxwell said of Rubio, "He's like the Jamaican Family on the show In Living Color."