Trump Buys Shoes For JD Vance And Marco Rubio, Calls Them ‘Kids’

An offbeat detail from a recent interview of Donald Trump sparked discussion on social media after it emerged that the US President personally bought shoes for his Vice President and Secretary of State

and referred to them as “kids”.

According to a live blog by The New York Times reporters Katie Rogers and Tyler Pager, Donald Trump interacted casually with aides during the interview and repeatedly referred to several of them as “kids”, including Vice President JD Vance, 41, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, 54.

At one point during the interaction, JD Vance and Marco Rubio showed off their shoes, telling reporters that they had been purchased by the US President. Katie Rogers noted that JD Vance even lifted his leg to display the pair he was wearing. Tyler Pager reported that both officials said they had each received four pairs of shoes from Donald Trump, including black dress shoes and a pair of tuxedo shoes.

The anecdote quickly drew mixed reactions on social media, with users split between amusement, approval and discomfort.

Some online users defended the gesture as harmless or even endearing. One user wrote, “that’s cute,” while another commented, “I call those younger than me kid so what’s your point????” Another post read, “He’s 80. They’re the same age to him as his kids. This might be the first endearing thing I’ve read about Trump in ages.”

Others framed the moment humorously.

“Wait, I only get 2 dolls and they get 4 pairs of shoes? This ain’t America!” one user joked, while another quipped, “Makes sense. Vance could literally be his grandson.”

However, not all reactions were positive. Some users described the episode as uncomfortable or unsettling. “Is this not odd, creepy and disturbing?” one post asked. Another wrote, “If they weren’t evil, this could actually be kinda sweet,” while a separate comment said Donald Trump was “old enough to be their dads” but still called the behaviour “ridiculous”.