The Daily Mail has traced the source of the widely shared meme showing Secretary of State Marco Rubio seated on a couch in the Oval Office.
And, as it turns out, the person behind it never expected it to explode online.
The image captures Rubio looking stern and distinctly unimpressed, dressed in a blue suit with a light blue tie, his hands folded in his lap as he sits on one of the Oval Office’s yellow sofas.
The photo was snapped in February 2025, on the same day President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance held a tense meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Yet the meme itself did not surface until almost a year later, shortly after the United States successfully removed former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro from his compound in Caracas.
The meme format has since become known as “Marco Rubio realizing,” a nod to his contemplative expression as he observed the dramatic exchange involving Trump, Vance, and Zelensky.
The meme sparked jokes online about Rubio’s expanding profile within the Trump administration.
Currently, the Secretary of State also serves as Trump’s acting national security adviser, acting archivist of the US, and acting administrator of USAID.
The ‘realizing’ meme pokes fun at Rubio’s constantly expanding work portfolio and responsibilities in the administration.
‘Rubio realizing he’s going to be president of Venezuela, governor of Cuba, and the Shah of Iran,’ Antonio García Martínez, an employee of blockchain company Base, wrote shortly after Trump announced Maduro’s capture.
A meme showing Marco Rubio ‘realizing’ that he’s going to be the president of Venezuela
Another meme showed Rubio as the ayatollah of Iran after the US-Iran war broke out
After multiple musicians canceled their performances for a concert in DC to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, a meme depicting Rubio as a pop star went viral
According to Know Your Meme, a meme tracking database, García Martínez was the first to create the format. Quickly, it caught on – and with a little help from AI – took off as the newest viral sensation.
In the ensuing months, Rubio has been edited into what seems like a million new positions, like the leader of Venezuela or Iran, a 2000s pop star, and a Spirit Airlines pilot. The dozens of iterations have garnered millions of impressions on social media – penetrating the timelines of everyday users far beyond the intended political audience.
‘Ha…can’t believe that meme got as far as it did,’ creator García Martínez told the Daily Mail in a statement.
Trump’s other Cabinet officials love the memes.
In a Trump Cabinet group chat, the President’s top deputies have circulated the latest iterations of the Rubio meme and playfully joke about the Secretary of State being a viral internet sensation, one administration official revealed to the Daily Mail.
Across the Trump administration and Capitol Hill, the meme has taken off like wildfire.
‘I for sure think it’s boosted his profile,’ one Trump official told the Daily Mail of how the meme has benefitted Rubio’s public profile. ‘This is the meme era, and if you’re going to follow in the meme kings’ [Trump’s] footsteps, you need to play the game.’
‘My favorite iteration was Marco as Bryon Noem,’ they added, referencing the Rubio meme showing the secretary with large fake breasts, following an explosive Daily Mail report revealing that former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s husband, Bryon, has a cross-dressing fetish.
Following an explosive Daily Mail report about former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s husband Bryon being a crossdresser, Rubio was transformed into a meme depicting Bryon’s fetish
This meme depicts Rubio as the main character from ‘ET.’ The caption joked that Rubio was now leading the administration’s release of files on UFOs
As Trump ordered a remodel of the Reflecting Pool near the Lincoln Memorial in DC, Rubio was transformed into a pool cleaner
A State Department official also shared that the Bryon Noem meme was their favorite.
As for the trend, they shared: ‘It humanizes him [Rubio].’
‘Secretary Rubio is a key member of President Trump’s all-star national security team, and beyond that, well-beloved in the West Wing for his great sense of humor,’ White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement.
The meme trend has largely been seen as beneficial for Rubio.
‘Becoming a meme can either kill one’s political ambitions or greatly enable them,’ Gen-Z GOP influencer CJ Pearson said. ‘For Marco, it’s clearly the latter.’
‘The couch meme doesn’t just speak to Marco’s competence but it speaks to the trust that not just the President but everyday Americans have in him to do literally any job.’
After Trump repeatedly aired his desire for the US to takeover Greenland, a meme was created to show Rubio as the president of the arctic island
Rubio was also transformed into a Spirit Airlines flight attendant after the company declared backrupcy
Marco Rubio was even tranformed into a meme resembling another meme of JD Vance
Vance leaned into the meme showing him with curly hair by dressing up in a wig for Halloween
The Rubio realizing trend contrasts with other viral memes that have been borne out of Trump’s second term.
For example, Vance has been the subject of a meme format dubbed ‘fat JD with curly hair,’ which, as expected, displays the VP as fat, baby-faced and curly-haired.
That decisively less flattering format also originated after the contentious Oval Office meeting with Zelensky, where Vance asked the Ukrainian President ‘have you said thank you once?’
Vance was derided online for the remark, and the meme painted him as a brat.
Still, Vance has leaned into the joke and even wore a curly wig for Halloween last year to embrace the disparaging meme.
‘In the Trump Administration, there’s no such thing as bad press. MAGA leaders have embraced memes and internet jokes in a way that makes them feel relatable and fun, like the Vance fat kid meme,’ a senior Republican congressional aide told the Daily Mail.
While Vance’s memes invoke a memory of his scuffle with Zelensky, Rubio’s brand of memes highlights his adaptability.
‘At the end of the day, all these memes began because of Rubio’s versatility and how many hats he wears in this Administration, so every new iteration is a reminder of his value,’ the senior aide added.
Rubio’s office did not return the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
