Did Trump Buy Marco Rubio the Wrong Size Shoes? - The Cut

If President Donald Trump thinks your shoes look awful, he’ll get you a new pair that are up to his standards. That’s what we learned from a report in the The Wall Street Journal* on Monday, which detailed the president’s apparent obsession with Florsheim shoes. According to the Journal*, Trump has handed out pairs of these reasonably priced wingtips to Cabinet members, allies, and Tucker Carlson. One of the lucky recipients is Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who appears to be walking around in a pair that are way too big for him.

The *Journal *reported that Rubio got his Florsheims in December after Trump determined that he and Vice-President J.D. Vance had bad taste in footwear. During a meeting in the Oval Office, the president apparently told Rubio and Vance that they had “shitty shoes.” Vance recounted the exchange himself later that day at an event honoring Sylvester Stallone, where he said Trump went and brought out an “incredible shoe catalogue” before asking the men for their sizes and informing them they’d each be getting four pairs.

“It’s hysterical because everybody’s afraid not to wear them,” one female White House official told the Journal. That certainly seems to be the case for Rubio, who is often wearing his despite the fact that they look like clown shoes on him. On Wednesday, menswear writer Derek Guy shared a photo of Rubio from January in which he’s embracing Chuck Schumer and basically flying out of his shoes.

This is not the only time Rubio has been seen sliding around in his oxfords. In January Rubio attended the World Economic Forum alongside the president, so obviously he had to wear the Florsheims. If you look closely, you can see they look a little big. Nothing too crazy, but it’s notable. (Also notable is the fact that U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer does *not *have Florsheims and appeared to be wearing some kind of Dr. Martens instead.)

At Dan Scavino’s Mar-a-Lago wedding in February (which the president also attended), the secretary of State displayed a noticeable gap between his heel and the back of his shoe.

A couple days later, Rubio met with Republic of Korea foreign minister Cho Hyun at the State Department. Even though this photo was taken from behind, you can kind of see the gaping abyss between his ankle and the shoe.

According to Vance’s story, Rubio told the president he wears an 11.5. These shoes appear to be fitting more like a 12, maybe even a 12.5. So, what gives? Rubio certainly knows his shoe size, as evidenced by this photo from June in which his shoes are fitting perfectly:

My guess is that Trump got the wrong size for Rubio or that the secretary of State lied about his shoe size in order to seem more macho in front of his boss. According to the the* Journal*, Trump *does *like to guess people’s sizes when ordering them a pair, so maybe he guessed wrong and Rubio was too scared to correct him. Either way, he should probably just buy a new pair. A pair of Florsheim oxfords will only run you $145, and the fact that his were a gift directly from the president will not save him from some of the most painful blisters of his life.