{"id":2599229,"date":"2026-05-05T21:24:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/marco-rubio-schools-misbehaving-white-house-press-corps-with-master-class-in-wit\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T21:27:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:27:58","slug":"marco-rubio-schools-misbehaving-white-house-press-corps-with-master-class-in-wit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/marco-rubio-schools-misbehaving-white-house-press-corps-with-master-class-in-wit\/","title":{"rendered":"Marco Rubio schools misbehaving White House press corps with master class in wit"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmarco-rubio-schools-misbehaving-white-house-press-corps-with-master-class-in-wit%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2599229&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Marco Rubio enters the White House <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/president-trump-senate-republicans-pile-on-pressure-to-approve-2k-stimulus-payments\/\" title=\"President Trump, Senate Republicans pile on ...ure to approve K stimulus payments\">briefing room<\/a> and instantly charms the crowd, but it quickly turns chaotic: reporters from the back row push questions about Iran and Cuba, with multiple interruptions, hand-raising, and even selfies. He jokingly challenges the norms of questioning, tells reporters he\u2019s \u201cwinging it,\u201d and admits he lost a seating map-leading to laughs and a sense that the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >usual press hierarchy<\/a> is getting upended.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about a photo suggesting a Cuba-focused meeting, Rubio uses humor and press-friendly clarification to defuse the speculation, repeatedly returning to Iran-related points-framing Iran\u2019s continued behavior as leading to severe economic and generational damage.Despite the noise, he steadily drives his message home, then leaves as the room continues shouting about Iran, Venezuela, and especially Cuba, with the atmosphere portrayed as rubio having \u201cschooled\u201d the press.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/marco-rubio-schools-white-house-press-corps-with-master-class-in-wit\/\" title=\"Marco ... schools ... ... corps with master class in wit\">briefing room door slid open<\/a> six inches and <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/marco-rubio\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/marco-rubio\/\"><strong>Marco Rubio<\/strong><\/a>  pushed his face through the gap. It was less like Jack Nicholson in The Shining, and more like a goofy substitute teacher pulling a face to win over what he knew would be a difficult room. <\/p>\n<p>It worked. Up to a point.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/4556314\/marco-rubio-schools-white-house-press-corps\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Marco Rubio schools misbehaving White House press corps with master class in wit<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/4555009\/marco-rubio-white-house-press-briefing-media-drought\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Marco Rubio ends his media drought in the highest-profile way possible<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/4553496\/pat-buchanan-lifetime-bulldog-award-media-watchdog\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Pat Buchanan is honored with lifetime \u2018Bulldog\u2019 award by media watchdog<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>The audience chortled while the dual-hatted Secretary of State and National Security Adviser took on yet another role, maternity cover for <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/karoline-leavitt\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/karoline-leavitt\/\"><strong>Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>\u201cThank you for having me today,\u201d he said, before launching into his spiel about why \u201cProject Freedom\u201d was very much a defensive operation to keep Iranian gunboats from interfering with shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a completely different proposition to \u201cOperation Epic Fury,\u201d which was over anyway. <\/p>\n<p>Things started smoothly enough. The first question went to a reporter in the new media seat. She asked about whether he had evidence Iran was ready to drop its nuclear weapons program.<\/p>\n<p>Things began to unravel when he called on someone in the back row. They had questions about Iran and about Cuba.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo they get to ask two questions on this,\u201d Rubio muttered in the direction of White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung who was making a rare visit to the briefing room as if he knew it was going to be quite the show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can ask two questions and I\u2019ll give you one answer \u2026 I\u2019ll take the one I like best,\u201d he said with a smile after apparently making up his own policy on the matter.<\/p>\n<p>Someone crammed into the aisle took a selfie in the meantime, capturing their own image with the Secretary of State in the background. It was that kind of a day.<\/p>\n<p>A reporter on the back row welcomed Rubio to the White House. He probably would have handed him an apple too if he hadn\u2019t been at the back of the room.<\/p>\n<p>At every pause, a sea of hands erupted into the air. Questions were shouted on Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba \u2026 especially Cuba, one of Rubio\u2019s pet subjects.<\/p>\n<p>A reporter from the Daily Mail asked him about a photograph posted on social media from a meeting he had with U.S. Southern Command. It showed Rubio in front of a map of Cuba, raising intense speculation that the communist island was about to be Venezuelaed or worse.<\/p>\n<p>It brought a masterclass in press handling from Rubio. His answer dripped in humor of the sarcastic variety, and left the story as deep underwater as those seven Iranian gunboats he likes to talk about.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCuba\u2019s in SOUTHCOM, you know?\u201d he said. \u201cThere happened to be a map of Cuba, because it\u2019s like the closest thing that\u2019s in SOUTHCOM to the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He wasn\u2019t done. After a pause he delivered the coup de grace:\u00a0 \u201cWe have maps of other countries!\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The substitute teacher was showing who was in charge. The elite members of the White House press corps elite questioners were being treated like dim students.<\/p>\n<p>It brought another chuckle from reporters who are more used to drier answers and less-camoflaged contempt.<\/p>\n<p>But he still didn\u2019t know who anyone was.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m winging it guys,\u201d he said at one point as he searched for familiar faces.<\/p>\n<p>He said he\u2019d been given a seating map but he\u2019d lost it en route to the lectern.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of you had little red crosses,\u201d he said to more gales of laughter. It was funny because it was probably true.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m kidding,\u201d he added, with the sort of denial that made it seem even truer.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone had their hand in the air by this point. Everybody was shouting at the nation\u2019s top diplomat as if he were an Amazon delivery driver taking a plasma TV to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cnn-hires-cartoon-network-host-unapologetic-content-thief-who-regurgitates-witless-conservative-bashing\/\" title=\"CNN+ Hires Cartoon Network Host, \u2018Unapologetic Content Thief... Who Regurgitates \u2018Witless Conservative-Bashing...\">wrong house<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And everyone was pretending that the Rubio finger had pointed at them, not the person of the opposite sex dressed in pink five seats away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first one I called on,\u201d said Rubio. \u201cThis is chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Next time, he said, he would bring a laser pointer.<\/p>\n<p>Yet he made his point above the hubbub. <\/p>\n<p>At times he did it with humor, at times by hammering the same point. With a wrinkled brow and the tone of a teacher explaining the error of their ways to a child who has been held back more than one school year, he gently spelled out the consequences for Iran of keeping along the same course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are facing real, catastrophic destruction to their economy, generational destruction to their economy, generational destruction to the wealth of their country imposed on themselves by the actions that they\u2019re taking,\u201d he said, before sprinkling in an Ice Cube lyric from the 90s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey should check themselves before they wreck themselves.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>He was gone soon after, his final words drowned out in more shouted questions about Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. Especially Cuba.<\/p>\n<p>His job was done. The room had been schooled.<\/p>\n<p><strong><strong><em>You are reading\u00a0a bonus edition of<\/em> Washington Secrets<em>, a guide to power and politics in D.C. and beyond. It is written by Rob Crilly, who you can reach at <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#81f2e4e2f3e4f5f2c1f6e0f2e9e8efe6f5eeefe4f9e0ece8efe4f3afe2eeec\"><span class=\"__cf_email__\" data-cfemail=\"96e5f3f5e4f3e2e5d6e1f7e5fefff8f1e2f9f8f3eef7fbfff8f3e4b8f5f9fb\">[email\u00a0protected]<\/span><\/a> with your comments, story tips, and suggestion<\/em><\/strong><em><strong>s. If a friend sent you this and you\u2019d like to sign up, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/click1.trk-washingtonexaminer.com\/xprvgynrhhctscghtpnrptnqlrtypjmjlkrlcnpvhgpdcr_jtjrvfbrrsmwbqmnsbmvsv.html?a=Washington+Secrets+Lara+Trump&#038;b=01%2F21%2F2026&#038;c=WEX_Washington+Secrets&#038;d=25812206&#038;e=da31c45955c9411a6c40ecd0e967fa8def1f0fc08362faaa0dee09386ff5c41b\">click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marco Rubio barged into the briefing room with goofy charm-working, but only briefly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4136,"featured_media":2599230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/rubio-collage-2-e1778021110928.jpg?1778007105&amp;w=600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[34360,36370,79166],"class_list":["post-2599229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-marco-rubio","tag-media-relations","tag-white-house-press-corps"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/rubio-collage-2-e1778021110928.jpg?1778007105&amp;w=600","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2599229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2599229"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2599229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2599238,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2599229\/revisions\/2599238"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2599230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2599229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2599229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2599229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}