President Donald Trump may be looking at Vice President J.D. Vance to take the reins of his Make America Great Again movement in the future.
“Well, I think most likely,” Trump said when asked if Vance was MAGA’s heir-apparent at a White House event on Tuesday. “In all fairness, he’s the Vice President.”
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He also suggested that Marco Rubio—who currently serves as the Secretary of State, acting National Security Adviser, and acting Archivist of the U.S.—could join Vance on a future Republican ticket as “somebody that maybe would get together with J.D. in some form.”
But he stopped short of endorsing any specific candidate for 2028.
It’s the closest Trump has come to explicitly backing Vance for a future presidential run.
When he was asked in February if he viewed Vance as his successor, Trump said, “No, but he’s very capable.” Trump said at the time that it was “too early” to think about 2028.
“I also think we have incredible people, some of the people on the stage right here,” Trump said Tuesday, while he stood near Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, among others. “So it’s too early, obviously, to talk about it, but certainly he’s doing a great job, and he would be probably favored at this point.”
Trump had previously named Vance and Rubio as potential successors in May.
Trump’s latest comment comes after Rubio said last month that Vance “would be a great nominee if he decides he wants to do that.” Rubio, who ran for President in 2016, downplayed his own presidential ambitions in an interview with Fox News, saying that he was focused on his current role as Secretary of State and would be satisfied if that was the “apex” of his public service career. Still, he added, “you never know what the future holds; you never rule things out.”
It also comes after Trump said Tuesday on CNBC that he would “probably not” run again for President. The President and his allies have floated the idea of a third term on several occasions. Doing so is barred by the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment, but Trump has repeatedly teased that there are “methods” he could employ to get around that.