Marco Rubio calls Pop-Tarts a 'great American innovation' on podcast
The secretary of state mocked Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s diet while his wife teased his own junk food habits.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Marco Rubio and his wife appeared on the podcast of Katie Miller, wife of White House aide Stephen Miller (AP)
Photograph: The Independent (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Marco Rubio appeared on the Katie Miller podcast on 11 August 2026 and called Pop-Tarts 'one of the great American innovations in the history of the world'.
- Rubio mocked Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s diet, which includes sauerkraut, as 'crazy' during the same appearance.
- Rubio’s wife, Jeanette, said on the podcast that he eats 'anything with sugar' and 'loves fast food'.
- The Pop-Tarts Bowl college football game is scheduled for 29 December 2026, as reported by The Independent.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 7 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 1 of the 8 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
60/100
Craft
95/100
Hype
30/100
8 sources · methodology
Thin on the left so far
Only 2 of the 7 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, appeared on the Katie Miller podcast in Washington, D.C., on 11 August 2026. The podcast is hosted by the wife of Stephen Miller, a top White House aide. Rubio was joined by his wife, Jeanette, during the interview.
Rubio praised Pop-Tarts during the podcast, calling them 'one of the great American innovations in the history of the world'. He described the foil packaging as part of their appeal. Jeanette Rubio interrupted to say her husband eats 'anything with sugar' and 'loves fast food'. The Independent reported that she added, 'You eat all the things you should not be eating. Every single thing.'
Rubio also commented on the diet of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services. Kennedy’s diet reportedly includes sauerkraut and meat. Rubio joked that it was 'crazy' and 'unsustainable', saying Kennedy would need to 'travel the world with a cooler full of sauerkraut' to maintain it. The Independent reported that Kennedy has promoted a protein-heavy diet and has his own cooking show.
What the coverage left out
No centre-rated outlet ran this story. None of the right-rated digests mentioned that Rubio’s wife, Jeanette, criticised his diet during the podcast. The Independent was the only outlet to report that the Pop-Tarts Bowl, a college football game sponsored by the brand, is scheduled for 29 December 2026.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 1 time, most recently on 12 Aug 2026, 20:00, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
2 rated outlets
- The two left-rated reports led on Rubio’s remarks about Pop-Tarts and his mockery of Kennedy’s diet. The Independent’s full report described Rubio’s praise for Pop-Tarts as an 'impassioned defense' of the snack. It quoted Rubio directly: 'The Pop-Tart is one of the great American innovations in the history of the world. If you think about it, it comes in this beautiful foil pack.'
- The Independent also reported that Jeanette Rubio teased her husband for his junk food habits, quoting her as saying, 'You eat all the things you should not be eating. Every single thing.' Raw Story’s digest described Rubio as a 'Pop-Tart fiend' and said he 'torched the carnivore-and-fermented regime' associated with Kennedy. Neither left-rated report mentioned the Pop-Tarts Bowl college football game.
Centre
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated centre has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Right
5 rated outlets
- All five right-rated digests led on Rubio’s mockery of Kennedy’s diet. Conservative Firing Line’s digest described Kennedy’s diet as including 'meat and fermented vegetables' and quoted Rubio’s remark that the combination was 'crazy'. Twitchy’s digest said Rubio 'dismisses RFK’s sauerkraut-meat diet' and 'praises Pop-Tarts'.
- RedState’s digest framed Rubio’s remarks as 'comedy gold', saying he 'roasts Pete Hegseth’s arrogant cat and RFK’s meat cooler diet with sharp humor'. Bizpac Review and ussanews.com both described Kennedy’s diet as 'crazy' in their headlines. None of the right-rated digests mentioned Jeanette Rubio’s comments about her husband’s eating habits or the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
Read it at the source
8 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
2- Rubio professes his love of Pop-Tarts and hails them as a ‘great American innovation’ (opens The Independent in a new tab)
The Independent — is The Independent biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Marco Rubio outed as Pop-Tart fiend who can't stomach RFK's 'coolers full of sauerkraut' (opens Raw Story in a new tab)
Centre
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Right
5- Rubio has hilarious response to RFK Jr.’s ‘crazy’ diet, but then his wife exposes his (opens ussanews.com in a new tab)
ussanews.com — is ussanews.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Rubio has hilarious response to RFK Jr.’s ‘crazy’ diet, but then his wife exposes his (opens Bizpac Review in a new tab)
Bizpac Review — is Bizpac Review biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Pop-Tarts: Greatest American Innovation in the History of the World ⋆ Conservative Firing Line (opens Conservative Firing Line in a new tab)
Conservative Firing Line — is Conservative Firing Line biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
- Marco Rubio Declares He Is Not MAHA — RFK’s Sauerkraut-Meat Diet Is Crazy and Pop-Tarts Rule (opens Twitchy in a new tab)
- Rubio Delivers Comedy Gold: Roasts Hegseth’s Arrogant Cat and RFK’s Meat Cooler (opens RedState in a new tab)
RedState — is RedState biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
Not rated
1Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Marco Rubio calls Pop-Tarts a 'great American innovation' on podcast?
- Of the 7 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 29% are rated left, 0% are rated centre, 71% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 8. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Marco Rubio calls Pop-Tarts a 'great American innovation' on podcast left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 7 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Marco Rubio calls Pop-Tarts a 'great American innovation' on podcast biased?
- Marco Rubio calls Pop-Tarts a 'great American innovation' on podcast is one event reported by 8 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Marco Rubio calls Pop-Tarts a 'great American innovation' on podcast?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Marco Rubio calls Pop-Tarts a 'great American innovation' on podcast?
- 8 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What did Marco Rubio say about Pop-Tarts?
- Marco Rubio called Pop-Tarts 'one of the great American innovations in the history of the world' during an appearance on the Katie Miller podcast on 11 August 2026. He praised the foil packaging and defended the snack as an iconic breakfast treat, as reported by The Independent.
- How did Marco Rubio describe Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s diet?
- Rubio joked that Kennedy’s diet, which includes sauerkraut and meat, was 'crazy' and 'unsustainable'. He said Kennedy would need to 'travel the world with a cooler full of sauerkraut' to maintain it, according to The Independent and digests from right-rated outlets.
- What did Rubio’s wife say about his eating habits?
- Jeanette Rubio said on the podcast that her husband eats 'anything with sugar' and 'loves fast food'. She added, 'You eat all the things you should not be eating. Every single thing,' as reported by The Independent. None of the right-rated digests mentioned her remarks.
- Which outlets covered Rubio’s podcast appearance?
- The story was covered by two left-rated outlets, The Independent and Raw Story, and five right-rated outlets: ussanews.com, Bizpac Review, Conservative Firing Line, Twitchy, and RedState. No centre-rated outlet ran the story.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
