Mockery erupted Friday afternoon as President Donald Trump read aloud a note from his Secretary of State during a power lunch with big oil titans.
Trump held court to convince ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips executives to drop billions on rebuilding Venezuela's neglected energy infrastructure. Trump told the New York Times that Caracas must "give us everything we feel is necessary"—including exclusive oil partnerships with America and ditching ties to China, Russia, and Iran.
During the powwow, Marco Rubio passed the president a note, which Trump proceeded to read aloud in front of every oil titan.
"Marco just gave me a note. 'Go back to Chevron,'" read Trump, stunning Rubio. "'They want to discuss something.' Go ahead. I'm going back to Chevron. Thank you Marco."
While the public sharing appeared to catch Rubio off guard, Trump laughed off the moment and clapped his Cabinet official on the back.
The moment drew immediate mockery and fueled speculation about the cognitive health of the president.
Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann chided on X, "Every day I thank god Trump is a f---ing idiot."
Progressive Political YouTuber Jack Cocchiarella invoked the Constitution's lever to remove the president, writing on X, "25th amendment now."
Laura Rozen, a foreign policy reporter, wrote on X, "haha. rubio urges trump to turn back to the one US oil company still in Venezuela."
X user Conor Lynch wrote on X, "Thinking about what @NateSilver538 would be tweeting if Joe Biden had done this."
Fellow X user Nick Burdon wrote on X, "Please someone hand #Trump a note that says 'I resign the Presidency, and Im a f---ing moron.'"
James Fox, managing editor and podcast co-host of FutureSox, shared a gif of the fictional TV news anchor Ron Burgundy, in which Will Ferrell's iconic character reads a teleprompter verbatim by mistake, asking viewers, "I'm Ron Burgundy?"
