MAGA Power Couples With The Dullest Chemistry

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There are enough divorces, affairs, and pregnancies in Donald Trump's second administration to fuel multiple seasons of a hypothetical "Real Housewives of MAGA" TV show. Most members of Trumpland are on their second or third spouse (or affair), seemingly chasing the spark of love and lust that forms first in a relationship but doesn't linger long without work from both parties. Chemistry is a funny thing, that way — it's often born of sudden happenstance, yet requires tinkering to maintain.

Many members of MAGA want to bring government into the bedroom and legislate the lives of couples, from bans on gender-affirming and reproductive health care to attacks on gay marriage. Meanwhile, they neglect the planks in their own eyes, often misrepresenting the health of their own relationships. While all politicians attempt to present an Instagram-friendly portrait of their families, it's abundantly clear from pictures, interviews, and reporting that many MAGA couples have lost most, if not all, of the spark that once lit their fuse. 

The list of conservative power couples with the dullest chemistry could feasibly feature hundreds of entries, but for the sake of brevity, let's take a look at the most powerful players with the least passionate game.

Perhaps the most shamelessly open and transparent affair in the world of MAGA has been between DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and DHS adviser Corey Lewandowski, which has even worried Donald Trump and the White House. Despite each of them being married, they have allegedly spent years engaging in an affair that one person called "absurdly blatant and public" (per The New York Post). Maybe this is why Kristi and husband Bryon often look awkward in photographs together.

Photographs of the Noems detail the distance between them, both figuratively and literally, with Bryon's smile sometimes seeming phony and plastered on. Kristi also seems to stiffen up when she's closer to Bryon, as seen in Christmas pictures posted on Instagram. Even pictures of their so-called "date night" on Instagram have a cringe quality to them, with a bit of embarrassment on their faces as they posed without any chemistry. While Kristi often includes pictures of her husband on her Instagram, Bryon has seemingly not posted an image of his wife since May 2024, when he celebrated their 32nd anniversary with a carousel of pictures from their past on the social media platform.

Perhaps Bryon simply has no recent pictures of his wife, considering they seem to have very separate lives. They may not even live together for much of the year, one of many weird things about their marriage. Reports have claimed that, in 2021, Bryon moved out of the governor's residence he shared with Kristi. In April 2025, it was reported that Kristi lived in a rental apartment in Washington, D.C., right across the street from Lewandowski. As such, she will have a hard time convincing people that she and Bryon still have any chemistry left in their marriage, no matter how many supposed "date night" photos she posts to Instagram.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has enough MAGA vibes for his whole marriage, so even if his wife, actor Cheryl Hines, is a democrat, they're still prime contenders for this list. That political difference is hardly the only one, and they've always seemed like an awkward couple in interviews. Appearing on "TigerBelly" in 2023, where Kennedy seemed supremely strained (as the comments section suggested), Hines admitted that RFK "wasn't really [her] vibe" when she first met him. Kennedy seemed to agree, saying on "The Tim Dillon Show" that same year, "There were no sparks." So, definitely not love at first sight.

Nonetheless, they likely had more spark as a couple before 2024, the year Kennedy capitulated to Donald Trump, eventually supporting his presidential campaign. That's despite telling TMZ earlier in the year that joining a Trump ticket "would be devastating to [his] marriage." He later told TMZ that Hines was "the opposite of encouraging" about his endorsement of Trump, adding, "It was something she would have never imagined, something that she never wanted in her life." Yikes.

Two thousand and twenty-four was also the year RFK was caught in an alleged affair with reporter Olivia Nuzzi, embarrassing Hines and putting their marriage on ice. Hines reportedly kept her distance from RFK during this humiliating news cycle, a silent treatment that only exacerbated the lack of chemistry between the couple ever since the end of 2024.

Hines' discomfort has certainly been visible in pictures of the couple. They seemed distant and agitated in photographs from their awkward appearance at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in 2024. Hines seemed visibly uncomfortable sitting right behind RFK during his nomination hearing to become the Secretary of Health and Human Services, where he was grilled for his anti-vaccination beliefs. The friction in their relationship has continued to be apparent in photos ever since.

Of all the MAGA power couples, few are simultaneously more important and less visible than Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the president's daughter and son-in-law. Perhaps that's why they sometimes seem so cold and distant, often standing aloof and separate from others at events — they're aware of their own significance, and know that people are watching them.

This could also be why their public disposition — respectful smiles and glamorous moments — can be markedly different from their private behavior. One source told Page Six that they barely seemed like a couple at their 2022 Miami yacht party, saying, "I never saw them interact. They stood in the same group, but almost as acquaintances." That was the same year a source told Radar Online that their relationship was "Falling apart ... They're always fighting and can barely contain their growing animosity for each other even when they appear in public."

The lack of chemistry in their strange marriage may be one-sided, with different reports indicating that Kushner is much less romantic and amorous than Trump. He purportedly neglected to hold her hand during their own wedding, despite Trump continuously attempting to reach out for his. In fact, Trump has a weird habit of grabbing Kushner's hand to seemingly hold it in place on her shoulder when his arm is draped over her, a pose that seems increasingly strange the more photos you see it in.

It gets sadder – when asked what the best gift Kushner ever gave her, Trump pointed to an immersion blender. Trump painted a picture of their one-sided romance to Vogue when she said, "My husband's idea of a date night somehow always involves me looking at one of his development sites." Suffice to say, their romance looks as anemic as Kushner himself.

Few MAGA power couples seem as ideologically and behaviorally aligned as Stephen and Katie Miller, whose indignant xenophobic outbursts on cable news have gone viral from time to time. That's why it's so ironic how little chemistry they seem to have. Katie seems to practically hate her husband, considering how frequently she mocks him in public. Who knows: Maybe it's a sadomasochistic kink? We wouldn't put it past this couple.

Even Katie's seemingly innocuous comments about her husband seem drenched in disdain. Speaking with JD Vance in 2025 on her "Katie Miller Pod", she threw shade at her husband for his bizarre love of mayonnaise. "It's the only thing my husband eats ... period. He's a mayonnaise guy." The contempt in her voice was palpable, and it seems indicative of their relationship in general.

Katie emasculated him a few months later on "Next Up with Mark Halperin", saying, "I'm the wife who says, 'You should go harder and go stronger and take them down more,' and, 'Why aren't you fighting back harder?' And he's like, 'I don't know how I could be more aggressive than this.'"

Then there was her infamous appearance on "Jesse Watters Primetime," where she and Watters seemed to publicly ridicule Stephen. "Just so the audience is aware, you are married to Stephen Miller, so you are the envy of all women," the snide host told Katie (via HuffPost). "The sexual matador, right?" Katie replied sarcastically, before parodying his political passion by mockingly describing how he wakes her up in the morning with speeches about "defeating the left." With wives like this, right?

Yet another apparent instance of one-sided chemistry can be seen in the painfully awkward relationship between JD and Usha Vance. While she always seemed supportive of her husband's career in Ohio, things seemed to change once he became the vice presidential nominee and eventual VP.

She looked miserable on the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention, and things only got worse after the election, with Usha's behavior hinting that she was growing increasingly tired of SLOTUS life. People noticed images of Usha looking downright miserable alongside her husband, like the time she brought gloom instead of glam to the Kennedy Center, or when she seemed to be in the middle of some kind of existential breakdown at the 2025 FIFA World Cup between Borussia Dortmund and Ulsan HD FC.

Of course, it's hard to have any chemistry with someone who lacks charisma altogether. Like Jared Kushner, JD just doesn't seem like a romantic, loving guy; in his book "Hillbilly Elegy", he referred to his wife as "some sort of genetic anomaly" (via 19th News). Instead of elevating and flattering her, JD often embarrasses Usha, whether intentionally or not. Onstage next to Usha during a March 2025 event, for example, JD said (via X), "The cameras are all on; anything I say, no matter how crazy, she has to smile, laugh, and celebrate it."

As such, it's no wonder that divorce rumors constantly follow the Vances wherever they go. They're often even fueled by Usha's behavior and choices, like the multiple times she went out on the town without her wedding ring. She genuinely seems to be one of the few MAGA spouses who doesn't want to be a part of a power couple at all.

Pete Hegseth's sexual history (both consensual and not) was put under a public microscope during his confirmation hearing to lead the Department of Defense. The episode made it abundantly clear that Hegseth had treated women poorly throughout his life, with his own mother labeling him a woman abuser. His aggressive, practically hyperandrogenic behavior has made something seem a little off about his chemistry with former mistress and third wife Jennifer Rauchet.

Despite having plenty of planned pictures that look politely nice, Rauchet and Hegseth still look awkward together in many images, mostly due to the Secretary of Defense's desperate need to look masculine. When he's not flexing his muscles while posing, he's smirking and looking very stiff, though that could be a result of his often skin-tight suits. He also tends to create unnecessary distance between himself and Rauchet, even when he's holding her hand.

In fact, while Hegseth does tend to hold his wife's hand a lot, he's usually leading her from the front instead of walking alongside her, making her seem like an afterthought or simply a pet. On that note, one Pentagon insider called Rauchet "a human leash," telling The Daily Mail that staffers had begun calling her "Yoko Ono" as a result of her constant presence and interventions at Hegseth's work. Instead of seeming like a spouse or any kind of loved one, one source told The Daily Mail, "She's like his parole officer and PR agent all at once."

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has a marriage filled with red flags. The lack of sparks is noticeable whenever he sits down with Kelly Johnson for a podcast, like the one they used to host together. That's exactly what happened when the pair appeared on the "Katie Miller Pod" in 2025, where they squirmed with uncomfortable politeness.

Kelly was candid about her dissatisfaction with Mike's work-life imbalance and how it had taken a toll on their family, saying, "We never saw him, our son never was able to see him." Mike awkwardly stared at his knees while Kelly dished on moving the family to Washington. D.C. Miller asked whether life is easier in D.C. compared to when Mike had to travel home as a member of Congress. Kelly answered, "Travel back and forth and be a member of Congress, no doubt, was much easier. And that was not easy. That was difficult." The sadness in their marriage seemed clear.

Even when Mike attempts to celebrate his wife in birthday and anniversary messages on Facebook, it comes across as stiff, condescending, and unromantic. Quoting the Book of Proverbs, he wrote in one Facebook post, "An excellent wife is the crown of her husband." In another Facebook message, he wrote, "As I've been saying since I first knew her: 'What you ARE thunders so loudly, I cannot hear what you say.' The sweet thunder is deafening now." Gee, thanks?

However, it's hard to top the public embarrassment of what he said about Kelly after being elected Speaker of the House. "She's spent the last couple of weeks on her knees in prayer to the Lord. And, um, she's a little worn out," he said (via The New Republic), a comment that was easily misconstrued as crude.

Marco Rubio seems genuinely uncomfortable in his skin; everything he does seems awkward, from the way he desperately sips water to his nervous, cringe-inducing laughter. So, it's not really fair to his wife, Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, to say that they don't gel as a couple — he seems incapable of having chemistry with anyone. Still, she does seem to compound his weirdness, with pictures throughout the years documenting their many painfully awkward moments.

Jeanette tends to plaster a plastic smile on her face in photographs with Marco, though she otherwise looks composed and pretty. Her husband, on the other hand, often looks stiff and tired while maintaining a bit of distance from his wife, as in their family Thanksgiving photo from 2022. There isn't much affection in these photographs, with Marco occasionally putting his hand behind his own back instead of around his wife's waist or shoulder.

Sometimes, photographs of the Rubios almost seem like satire, so exaggerated is their strained unease. Jeanette chose to celebrate Valentine's Day in 2016 with one of these pictures on Facebook, oblivious to how hilariously bizarre it is. In it, Marco smiles feverishly as he hugs Jeanette, who leans away at an extreme angle while he presses his cheek into hers. As one commenter wrote, "Why does she look like she is backing away from him? I think she is trying to tell us something."

Perhaps this is another instance of an unbalanced relationship. Jeanette shows a bit of indifference toward Marco in interviews that are far from romantic. In one, with Flamingo, she couldn't remember her wedding date. "He's the one who reminds me," she said. In a 2012 interview with CBS News, she described herself as more of a single mother due to Marco's workload, which says more about their chemistry than any photograph.

They may be the very definition of a MAGA power couple, but Donald and Melania Trump ironically have the dullest chemistry of them all. Countless articles and videos have documented the seeming lack of lust and love in their marriage, which grew increasingly distant as Donald's political career progressed. While she joined her husband throughout much of his first presidential campaign and term, she has been largely absent during his second term, just as she avoided his 2024 campaign. Donald awkwardly addressed this in a "Meet the Press" interview in 2023, saying, "She's a private person ... [But] Yeah, pretty soon. When it's appropriate, but pretty soon."

When Melania was "out there," she and Donald's body language left people cringing, with the first lady being photographed swatting her husband's hand away, avoiding his kisses, and looking generally uncomfortable around him. Even their intimate inaugural dance in January 2025 seemed like a divorce in slow motion; it looked like they had been sprayed by a skunk but were forced to stand close and breathe one another in.

Though merely a momentary gesture, perhaps the most telling microcosm of their lack of chemistry occurred during Donald's inauguration in 2017. Videos captured the second when he turned to say something to his family behind him. Melania forced a smile, but as soon as Donald turned back around, cameras captured the immediate disappearance of that phony joy, with an immense amount of disgust and despair quickly overwhelming her expression. They don't teach that kind of chemistry in science class, that's for sure.