The American political landscape is currently littered with very awkward couples…for example, things have seemed frosty between Donald and Melania Trump for a while now, and she wore a weird hat to his second inauguration that made it impossible for them to kiss like a normal couple. Not to be outdone, JD Vance seems so distant from his wife Usha (both physically and emotionally) that a rumor that he would be divorcing her to marry Charlie Kirk’s ex-wife, Erica, soon took the internet by storm.
As weird as these couples are, here’s something that may surprise you: Marco Rubio has them all beat. He and his wife, Jeannette, have always seemed like a real romantic mismatch, and lately, their public appearances have felt downright strained. What’s going on with this would-be power couple, and what have they been doing that’s made so many waves? Keep reading to find out!
The deer-in-headlights birthday photo
It’s not very polite, but one question we sometimes feel like asking people is this: when did you first notice that the Rubios act really weird around each other? The reason for the question is that Rubio, like many men in Donald Trump’s administration, loves to post pictures on social media. On paper, this is meant to make him look more relatable, especially when he poses with his beautiful wife.
But in May 2024, Jeannette posted a downright uncanny photo of herself and her husband when they were out celebrating Marco’s birthday. This would normally be a very happy occasion, but Marco genuinely looks as weirded out as a deer in headlights in this photo. He seems like he is grimacing, which dramatically recontextualizes Jeannette’s arm around his shoulder. She was likely going for a casually romantic pose, but it looked for all the world like she was trying to keep her husband from running away as fast as he could!
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A not-so-romantic Valentine’s Day
It’s easy to imagine that any potential weirdness between Marco and Jeannette Rubio is a recent phenomenon. That is, maybe (like JD and Usha Vance) they were once a happy couple, and it was only the stress of recent years that made things awkward. However, Jeannette posted a Valentine’s Day photo in 2016 that makes us wonder whether this couple ever had any real affection for one another in the first place!
What makes this photo so weird? Well, it looks a bit like Marco has captured Jeannette…you see, even while he tries to passionately embrace her with both arms, she seems to be frozen, unsure of what to do. Speaking of not knowing what to do, Marco seems uncertain of what expression he should make, and he settled for providing a weird, rictus grin that he practically jammed into his wife’s face.
Recently, the speculation that Marco Rubio and his wife are going to get a divorce has intensified. Looking at this decade-old photo, we have an even more pressing question: what the heck has kept them together so long in the first place?
Acting weirder than JD Vance around the Pope
Politicians like Marco Rubio are basically celebrities. Accordingly, people don’t always know how to act when he and his wife enter the room. But in May 2025, the shoe was on the other foot as Marco and Jeannette got a chance to meet the Pope when they traveled to the Vatican. But the Rubios didn’t handle it very well…whether this was due to fear, excitement, or something in between, the two of them ended up taking their most awkward photo yet!
Of the two, Jeanette looked mostly normal, though she didn’t quite know what to do with her hands, preferring to awkwardly hold them down in front of her waist. Marco, however, was a full-on disaster, wearing a suit so tight he looked like he was about to bust right out of it. He also held his arms out in an awkward posture, a bit like a gorilla that suddenly found himself in one of the holiest places on the planet.
To make things worse, JD and Usha Vance were on the other side, and while JD’s unbuttoned jacket looked sloppy, they at least looked like this wasn’t their first day standing upright. Sorry, Rubios: when you make the Vances look normal, you know you’ve screwed up!
RELATED: The Before and After Photos of Usha Vance Have Us Seriously Concerned
The “wait, are they divorced already?” photo
As we said before, rumors that Marco and Jeannette Rubio would be getting a divorce have been gaining steam for some time now. However, Jeannette posted a photo to Instagram in November 2025 that almost singlehandedly changed the discourse in the worst possible way. You see, almost everyone who saw this photo began to question whether they had already gotten a divorce, and we just didn’t know it!
Once again, Jeannette seems to be pulling away, effectively canceling out any intimacy the photo may have. Marco, as always, is rocking an awkward posture, and the flat lighting and bad photo angle make it seem like he is a cardboard cutout rather than someone made of flesh and blood. Throw in Marco’s poor attempt to smile (it’s what a grimace would look like after a couple of beers) and you have one of the most awkward photos in political history.