Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Monday night published the Florida address and phone number of a restaurant owned by Nusret Gökçe — the Turkish chef, social media star and meme known as “Salt Bae” — after Gökçe hosted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at his restaurant in Istanbul.
Roughly 2 million people have left Venezuela in recent years (many have moved to Florida) and millions more in the country suffer as a result of food, medicine and power shortages. Rubio has openly discussed a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, and members the Trump administration, the New York Times reported last week, have held secret meetings with Venezuelan military officers to discuss a possible coup attempt.
Gökçe eventually deleted the Instagram video of him serving and giving “Salt Bae” t-shirts to Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The Miami Herald saved a copy:
I don’t know who this weirdo #Saltbae is, but the guy he is so proud to host is not the President of #Venezuela. He is actually the overweight dictator of a nation where 30% of the people eat only once a day & infants are suffering from malnutrition. https://t.co/sSNPK9cAAx
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 18, 2018
This guy @nusr_ett who admires dictator @NicolasMaduro so much actually owns a steakhouse in, of all places, #Miami. It’s called NUSR-ET STEAKHOUSE MIAMI located at 999 Brickell Avenue, Miami, FL 33131
The phone number is 1 305 415 9990 in case anyone wanted to call. https://t.co/7CDkgHVZWh— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 18, 2018
While some like @nusr_ett feed dictators like Nicolas Maduro, others are helping to feed innocent children being starved by the Maduro regime in #Venezuela. https://t.co/mCAUd2gJ65
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 18, 2018
Maduro se da banquete de carnes y el famoso chef Salt Bae lo agasaja como un reyhttps://t.co/llH8wJ1Pwr
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 18, 2018
#Salt Bae @nusr_ett deleted the tweet with the video of him lavishing dictator Maduro with a steak dinner while the people of #Venezuela starve. Fortunately @miamiherald downloaded it before he deleted it. Watch here:https://t.co/AC9qkFWyOw
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 18, 2018
Screw Marco. I want to hear about Toad!
Just wondering if Eric and Jr. call can now be called Toadies…
This headline was generated by an AI, wasn’t it
It’s just blind luck that there’s a story that fit
I will give 3 pounds of my best mini-mushrooms (organic and gluten free!) to the person who can make the world stop doing the blurry-zoomed-sidebar thing. It is distracting and adds nothing to the picture (or video from which it originated).
I’m always telling people helpfully to hold their phones sideways if they’re doing video. I haven’t been cussed at yet but I suppose the day will come.