Vice President J.D. Vance’s team appears to be pushing back against recent criticism from within the MAGAsphere with new claims of Donald Trump fawning over him behind the scenes.
Unnamed sources within the administration were quoted telling MS Now of a “shift” by the 80-year-old president in recent weeks, who they claimed was now firmly set on Vance for his 2028 pick after previously suggesting it was a toss-up between Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“It’s become, ‘JD’s our guy, we gotta help JD,’” said one insider described as a senior administration official. Another source said Trump has been frequently complimenting his vice president’s appearance and recent weight loss, saying: “There’s been a lot of that.”
The reports of internal praise come as the vice president has been under fire as polling shows his support base among voters is rapidly shrinking.
University of New Hampshire polling released this week on potential 2028 Republican presidential candidates shows that the gap between Vance, 41, and Rubio, 55, has narrowed significantly between February and July.
The vice president has also found himself at the receiving end of scathing criticism from some conservative influencers arguing he is “unfit” for the job over his stance on Iran and fondness for podcast interviews.
But even as Vance’s star has fallen with some MAGA figures, Trump has gone in the opposite direction and been impressed by his vice president, according to the unnamed insiders who provided a glowing assessment of the vice president to MS Now.
Bizarrely, they said the deciding factor for Trump was Vance’s press tour for his new book about his conversion to Catholicism.
“Marco Rubio will not run against JD Vance. And everyone serious knows that. Vance will be the candidate,” wrote Breitbart Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle, sharing the MS Now report on X.
The Vice President’s Office and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It is still almost two years until Republicans will pick a nominee to run for president in 2028, but the race to be the anointed candidate has very much started.
