Did Marco Rubio Indirectly Call Donald Trump ‘Stupid’? Remark Sparks Buzz After His Office Deletes Post During India Visit

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio found himself at the centre of a political storm during his four-day visit to India after remarks made at a press conference triggered widespread speculation online.

The controversy began when Rubio was questioned about alleged anti-India and racist remarks linked to US President Donald Trump and a podcast post describing India as a “hellhole”. What followed quickly snowballed into a social media debate over whether Rubio had indirectly criticised his own boss.

Rubio’s ‘stupid people’ remark triggers controversy

During a joint press conference with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on May 24, Rubio appeared caught off guard when asked about controversial comments allegedly endorsed by Trump. “Who made those comments? Which ones?” Rubio asked after the reporter referred to remarks that were “pretty well known”.

Rubio responded, “I am sure that there are people who have made comments online, and in other places, because every country in the world has stupid people.” “I am sure there are stupid people here. There are stupid people in the United States who make dumb comments all the time,” he further said.

The reporter later clarified that the question referred to Trump’s earlier “hellhole” post about India. Soon after, social media users began debating whether Rubio had unintentionally referred to Trump’s remarks as “dumb”. Some suggested the comments may instead have been aimed at conservative podcaster Michael Savage.

State Department deletes post after backlash

The US State Department initially shared Rubio’s remarks on X, but later deleted the post as criticism mounted online. US political commentator Ed Krassenstein wrote, “The State Department initially posted the exchange online, but later removed it after people pointed out that Rubio's answer appeared to indirectly characterise Trump's comments as dumb.”

Even the Iranian consulate in Hyderabad joined the online chatter, posting that Rubio had called Trump “stupid” during the press conference. The controversy continued into Monday when an American journalist again pressed Rubio over the issue, directly mentioning Trump’s comments about Indians.

Rubio denied that he understood the original question to be about Trump’s social media activity. “I don’t know who he was talking about. I figured, I assumed that he was talking about people posting stuff online,” Rubio said.

“I don’t even know, some of those could be a troll, it could be a bot, I don’t know. So that’s why I asked him specifically, can you tell me what you’re talking about and who you’re talking about. He didn’t have a specific example.” Rubio also said the reporter had several chances to explicitly mention Trump but did not do so. “Well, I gave him a chance to tell me that, that’s not what he said,” Rubio stated.

Rubio praises Trump and Modi amid damage control

As speculation continued, Rubio strongly reiterated Trump’s support for India and his relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The president loves India. He said it last night, were you guys there when he called in for the event last night, the 250? The president’s a big fan of India, a big fan of Prime Minister Modi.”

“I wouldn’t be here if the president didn’t want me to be here. He wouldn’t have sent someone like Sergio to be our ambassador, someone who’s very close to the president.” Rubio again returned to the broader issue of inflammatory social media content.

“So I just assumed he was talking just about random voices out there. I mean, people say stupid stuff all the time on social media, and every country in the world, unfortunately,” he added.

How the ‘hellhole’ controversy began

The controversy traces back to April when Trump shared a post featuring comments by podcaster Michael Savage criticising birthright citizenship in the US. While discussing immigration, Savage referred to India and China as “hellhole” countries and claimed immigrants from India had not “integrated” into American society. Without directly naming Trump, India’s Ministry of External Affairs criticised the remarks. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the comments were “uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste”.

He added that the remarks “certainly do not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which has long been based on mutual respect and shared interests.”

Quad meeting and US outreach to India

Rubio’s visit also coincided with preparations for the Quad foreign ministers’ meeting involving India, the United States, Japan and Australia. The meeting included Rubio, Jaishankar, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.

Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to the Quad grouping and said the platform should move toward more “concrete actions” on issues such as maritime security and critical minerals. “We don’t just want the Quad to be a semi-annual meeting of like-minded countries,” Rubio said. “We want it to actually be a forum on which we continue to partner on things.”

He also said efforts were underway to organise a Quad leaders’ summit later this year.

Trump calls India ‘a great friend’

Amid the controversy, the Trump administration also made public efforts to underline its ties with India. At a reception in New Delhi marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, US ambassador Sergio Gor connected Trump on speakerphone during the event.

“I love India,” Trump said during the call. “I love the prime minister. Modi is great. He’s my friend, and I just want to say a very, very good evening to everybody this morning here, and this evening there."

“We’ve never been closer to India, and India can count on me 100% and our country.” “And I’m a big, big fan of prime minister Modi.”

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