Ethics watchdogs question necessity of the US secretary of state flying between DC and Gainesville so often Marco Rubio , the US secretary of state, has emerged as a superfan of the University of Florida ’s football team, spending more than $1.2m of taxpayers’ money on frequent personal trips to watch them play, a report published on…
Page F140From§Eachthe afternoon edition — 11 November 2026
Rubio bills taxpayers $1.2m to watch his son's walk-on role at running back
Asked in October about his ambassador to Greece — reported to have asked a donor to settle a hundred-thousand-dollar American Express bill — the secretary of state declined to answer. He was not obliged to. Hold that, and take Wednesday's figure: more than one million two hundred thousand dollars of taxpayers' money, spent flying between Washington and Gainesville to watch the University of Florida play football, where Anthony Rubio has a walk-on role at running back. You are reaching for improper. Improper is a word about rules, and this story contains no rule. What the watchdogs question is necessity ... and necessity is nobody's condition to satisfy. It is a view a man takes of his own diary. What the office confers is a usufruct: the use and enjoyment of an asset its owner pays to keep. The owner is you. Nobody asked the purpose. Nobody has to. You paid for every flight.
The steward holds the key. Each night the steward tastes the oil.
“They tell you there is no money for your kid's school, and the country's top diplomat is running a $1.2 million shuttle to Gainesville so he can watch a walk-on carry the ball. Nobody broke a rule, and that is the whole point — the travel money was set up so nobody has to say what the trip was for. You cover the gas to work; you cover his kickoff too.”
“Nobody has alleged a violation here, nobody, and you'll notice the story says ethics watchdogs "question necessity," which is not a finding, it's a mood. The job follows the man wherever he lands — did I say the job pays for the landing? That doesn't sound like me. Every secretary of state travels; this one happens to have a kid on a roster, and you want to make that a scandal.”
Earlier in this story
- Tennessee asks court to shield execution drug supplier from the lawyers of the woman it failed to kill By Sterling · the evening edition, 11 November 2026
- Tennessee, after failing to kill Christa Pike, warns that one drug label could halt its executions By Sterling · the afternoon edition, 10 November 2026
- Pentagon's livestreamed execution moves ahead in December, even though the president isn't "particularly enthusiastic" about it. By Mort · the evening edition, 13 October 2026
- Speaker says he just wouldn't watch the execution the UN already warned is torture. By Ruth · the morning edition, 13 October 2026
- Government calls its livestreamed execution optional, then a restoration of American values, then something to be happy about. By Lou · the evening edition, 11 October 2026
- Homeland Security defends livestreamed execution that no official admits ordering By Chip · the morning edition, 11 October 2026
The receipts
· Marco Rubio brushes off questions about Kimberly Guilfoyle pressing donor to pay credit card from the morgue, 8 Oct 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.