JUST IN: Trump Picks His 2028 Successor
In recent months, President Trump has repeatedly dodged questions about who he would like to see succeed him when he leaves the White House in January 2029.
It’s been a mystery, but that now appears to be solved, if a Friday report is to be believed.
Trump had been waffling back and forth between Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, both of whom he believes would make a great GOP nominee and president.
According to MS NOW, Trump appears to have settled on Vance.
“It’s become, ‘JD’s our guy, we gotta help JD,’” said one of several sources who spoke to the outlet on condition of anonymity.
Another source told the outlet that Trump has been saying lately that Vance has been looking great.
“There’s been a lot of that,” the person added.
People familiar with President Trump’s thinking pointed to a key turning point: Vance’s media tour promoting his memoir, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, which chronicles his 2019 conversion to Catholicism.
The tour included appearances across a wide range of media outlets.
On ABC’s The View, Vance received a notably cordial reception, with co-host Ana Navarro jokingly asking Joy Behar why she appeared to be “so in love with” him.
He also appeared on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, where Maher later said he would be open to supporting Vance in the 2028 presidential election.
Vance also made multiple appearances on Fox News, the president’s preferred cable network, and joined Megyn Kelly’s podcast, where he described the internal MAGA disagreements over the Iran conflict as “very immature.”
According to those familiar with the matter, Vance’s ability to effectively communicate the administration’s message across both friendly and skeptical media platforms during that stretch of interviews made a strong impression on Trump, MS NOW said.
According to two people familiar with the matter, Trump has also privately complimented Vance on his recent weight loss.
At an event in Michigan last month, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that he and Vance were among several administration officials following a sauerkraut-focused diet developed by physician Dr. Sean O’Mara, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Trump is widely known for frequently reassessing those within his inner circle, and his views can change over time.
One person familiar with the matter said the president was disappointed by the collapse earlier this month of a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding that Vance had helped negotiate alongside Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.
The same source also said that some senior White House officials have grown frustrated with what one official described as Vance’s team’s intense focus on online commentary about the vice president and the administration.
“Team Vance is extremely self-conscious about what people are saying about him — both here and just randos online — almost to a fault,” one White House official told MS NOW.
Olivia Wales, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement to *MS NOW* that Vice President JD Vance is President Trump’s “right-hand man” and “an invaluable member” of his national security team.
She said the president’s confidence in Vance is reflected in the significant responsibilities he has been assigned, including helping lead negotiations with Iran, chairing the White House’s anti-fraud task force, and working to advance the SAVE America Act.
Whether Trump ever seriously considered choosing between Vance and Rubio as a preferred successor remains a matter of debate.
Allies of both men have maintained that any perceived rivalry has been overstated, arguing that Trump has long favored fostering competition among potential successors rather than publicly elevating a single heir apparent.
Also, Rubio has said publicly that he would never seek the GOP nomination if Vance said he wanted it, while Vance has called Rubio one of his best friends.
