Marco Rubio jokes about hiding his naps from Trump on Air Force One as POTUS prowls cabin

WASHINGTON, DC: Secretary of State Marco Rubio has admitted he goes to almost comical lengths to avoid being caught sleeping by President Trump during long overseas flights aboard Air Force One, largely because the commander-in-chief simply does not shut his eyes.

Rubio, who is juggling an alphabet soup of responsibilities in the administration, acknowledged that while he does need rest, Trump famously does not. What’s more, the president can appear without warning.

Marco Rubio jokes about sleeping on Air Force One

Speaking to New York magazine, Rubio painted a vivid picture of his in-flight survival strategy. “There’s an office with two couches,” the secretary of state told the outlet. “I cocoon myself in a blanket. I cover my head. I look like a mummy.”

The reason for the elaborate disguise is straightforward: Rubio does not want Trump to get the wrong idea about his work ethic or stamina.

“At some point on the flight, he’s going to emerge from the cabin and start prowling the hallways to see who is awake,” Rubio said of the famously sleepless president.

“I want him to think it’s a staffer who fell asleep,” he joked. “I don’t want him to see his Secretary of State sleeping on a couch and think, Oh, this guy is weak.”

The flights Rubio referred to are typically long-haul international trips that scramble time zones and leave little room for recovery before meetings begin shortly after landing.

Trump’s ability to stay awake for marathon stretches has fascinated observers since his first term, when he regularly posted messages late into the night. That habit has not entirely faded in his second term, though the late-night missives now appear on Truth Social.

That said, many people in Trump’s orbit have marveled at, and quietly suffered because of, his uncanny ability to stay awake.

Pam Bondi marvels at Trump’s nonstop work pace

In October, CNN host Kaitlan Collins offered a glimpse into what it is like for White House aides who travel with Trump on diplomatic trips abroad. “I was just talking to someone about this because we wrote this story on what traveling with him is like in... I had this source who said, ‘You never wanna be on Air Force One on a trip,’” Collins said.

“He doesn’t sleep on these trips,” she told podcaster Jason Tartick. “And like, you’re going to Asia or something, and that’s kind of the only time you’re going to sleep, before you go on this trip, but Trump is just always up and talking, and he’ll like, have them go and wake stuff up if they’re asleep because he wants to talk to them.”

Vice President JD Vance, during a Fox News sit-down in September, said it did not take long for him to realize that Trump “doesn’t have an off-switch.”

“Sometimes the president will call you at 12:30 or 2:00 in the morning, and then he’ll call you at 6:00 in the morning about a totally different topic,” Vance revealed. “It’s like, ‘Mr President, did you go to sleep last night?’”

Even Attorney General Pam Bondi told podcaster Katie Miller, a former White House aide married to senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller, that Trump’s pace is relentless.

“None of us can keep up with him, we always joke,” Bondi said during a recent appearance on Miller’s show. “I don’t know how he does it,” she continued. “I mean, none of us know when he sleeps. He’s working all the time, and it’s just constant for him."