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Politics289 outlets ran this4 min read

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

Published Updated
Marco Rubio and his wife appeared on the podcast of Katie Miller, wife of White House aide Stephen Miller (AP)

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

Left 25%(45)Centre 32%(59)Right 43%(74)

Percentages are shares of the 178 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 111 of the 289 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

289 sources · methodology

Missing from the left

Only 45 of the 178 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

A reader who follows the left would not have seen this. We report the absence rather than explain it: outlets choose what to cover for many reasons, and we have no evidence about which one applies here.

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.

Tags:#USPolitics#MarcoRubio#RobertFKennedyJr#PopTarts#PodcastInterview

Coverage settled. We checked this 10 times and stopped on 18 Aug 2026, 07:15. The figures above are what it finished at.

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

45 rated outlets

  • Left-rated outlets led on Marco Rubio’s statement that Pop-Tarts are a ‘great American innovation’, made during an appearance on the Katie Miller podcast. The Independent’s report carried the full quote and context: Rubio’s defence of processed food while his wife teased his diet.
  • Nine of the 12 digests noted Rubio’s mockery of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s diet, specifically the claim that Kennedy travels with ‘a cooler full of sauerkraut’. The Independent and HuffPost included the exact phrase. None of the digests mentioned the Pop-Tarts Bowl or the brand’s viral marketing.
  • Five digests omitted the Pop-Tarts story entirely, focusing instead on Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, or homelessness policy. The Independent’s report was the only one to link Rubio’s podcast appearance to broader Trump administration controversies, including the Air Force One decoy incident.

Centre

59 rated outlets

  • Centre-rated outlets led on Donald Trump’s claim that the United States has total control of the Strait of Hormuz. All 12 digests reported the statement, made on his social media platform Truth Social. They also noted his description of a naval blockade as a 'wall of steel'.
  • The digests included Iran’s response in 11 of the 12 reports. Iran’s denial of U.S. control and its assertion that the strait would remain closed were carried by Reuters, Hindustan Times, Live Mint, 20minutos, La Libre, The Economic Times, stern.de, Sud Ouest and WTVB. Jornal Expresso and Political Wire did not mention Iran’s position.
  • None of the digests quoted Trump’s exact wording or provided context on the economic or military conditions he referenced. The focus remained on the opposing claims of control between the U.S. and Iran.

Right

74 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.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Marco Rubio calls Pop-Tarts a 'great American innovation' on podcast?
Of the 178 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 25% are rated left, 32% are rated centre, 43% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 289. 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?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 178 rated outlets on this story, 25% are rated left, 32% are rated centre, 43% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
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 289 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?
289 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.

Read it at the source

292 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

47
Show 39 more

Centre

59
Show 51 more

Right

75
Show 67 more

Not rated

111
Show 103 more

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.

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