Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) fired a barrage of near-identical replies to MAGA accounts that defended Secretary of State Marco Rubio Monday, all built around a single argument: President Donald Trump is not the hardest-working president in history.
The California Democrat's posting spree on X came hours after fresh video circulated of Trump appearing to nod off during a Monday Oval Office announcement of a $15 billion steel plant in Iowa. As Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick spoke, Reality Tea noted, Trump's eyes closed and his head drooped at times.
Lieu recycled the same rebuttal to at least eight users tagging Rubio between roughly 3:34 and 3:38 a.m. UTC on September 29.
"There are multiple videos of Trump sleeping at Oval Office events," Lieu wrote. "Go do your own research. It's not just photos."
To one user, he expanded the attack. "Also he plays more golf than any other President in history," Lieu posted. "He's simply not the hardest working President. Your facts are wrong."
The golf claim is partially supported by public trackers. Trump's first term logged roughly 285 golf-course visits over four years, outpacing Barack Obama's roughly 333 outings over eight years on an annualized basis. Dwight Eisenhower, however, remains the total-rounds leader, reportedly playing more than 800 rounds across his two terms.
The Rubio-Lieu clash traces back to a June 3 House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, where Lieu played footage from a December 2025 Cabinet meeting that appeared to show Trump struggling to keep his eyes open. Rubio rejected the characterization, telling lawmakers, "I've never seen him fall asleep. On the contrary, the guy doesn't sleep, which is a big problem because he calls me at 2 in the morning."
The Daily Beast has counted at least 20 public events at which the 80-year-old president has appeared to doze off. The White House has insisted Trump's closed eyes do not indicate any health problem.
MAGA replies to Lieu's Tuesday posts were angry. One user called him a liar and said Trump "can run circles around you." Another accused the congressman of hunting for "the few seconds that make him look like his sleeping."