Donald Trump refused to say whether JD Vance would make a good successor, even as the vice president was in the same room with him.
In an interview with Fortune, the 79-year-old president was asked whether Vance or two other touted 2028 presidential candidates—Donald Trump Jr. and Secretary of State Marco Rubio—would be the best person to carry on Trump’s “dealmaking legacy.”
After posing the question, Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell noted that Vance had “quietly slipped into the back” of the Oval Office where the interview was being conducted, and could therefore hear Trump’s response.
“Whoever gets this [job] is going to be very important,” Trump said. “And if you get the wrong person: disaster.”
It is widely expected that either Vance or Rubio will be the frontrunner for the 2028 presidential nomination, with the vice president considered the natural MAGA heir to Trump.
However, Trump has never offered anything other than a lukewarm-at-best endorsement of Vance to run for president. Rubio is also seemingly gaining more influence within the Trump administration, including taking on several roles at once and being trusted to travel to the Vatican to ease tensions caused by the president’s feud with Pope Leo XIV.
The president is also said to frequently ask those close to him whether they believe Vance or Rubio should lead the GOP presidential ticket, with the other serving as running mate.
Last week, Trump even asked guests attending a Police Week dinner at the White House Rose Garden whether they wanted Vance or Rubio to be the next Republican presidential candidate by way of applause.
“Who’s it going to be? Is it going to be JD? Is it going to be somebody else? I don’t know,” Trump said.
“Who likes JD Vance?” the president asked, with the vice president sitting just a few feet away from him, before asking if they liked Rubio, who was not present at the dinner. There was notably a louder cheer for Vance.
“Alright, sounds like a good ticket,” Trump added. “That was a perfect ticket. By the way, I do believe that’s a dream team, but these are minor details. That does not mean that you have my endorsement under any circumstance,” Trump pointedly told Vance.
Vance was grilled by reporters days later about whether he feels that Trump is “toying” with him and Rubio by constantly publicly gauging opinion on who should lead the 2028 Republican ticket.
“There are a few topics that I want to talk about less than what office I’m going to run for years down the road when I’m having a good time and trying to do good work in the job that the American people already elected me to do,” Vance replied.
“I’ve answered this question probably in any number of ways. I love Marco, I think he’s a great secretary of state, he’s become a very, very dear friend, but I think both of us are very much focused on accomplishing the American people’s business right now,” Vance added. “If I was the American people, there are a few things that I would hate more than a person who’s barely been in one office for a year and a half angling for a job two and a half years down the road.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Vance’s office for comment.
