A clutch of anonymous White House sources claim that Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind JD Vance after pitting him against Marco Rubio for a shot at the MAGA throne.
The aides told Axios on Monday that Trump has effectively come down on Vance’s side over the Secretary of State for his blessing to run at the top of the Republican ticket in the 2028 presidential polls.
“JD is earning it, and Trump sees it,” one source told Axios, adding, bizarrely, that Rubio “wasn’t planning to run anyway, and he’d be even less likely to do so now.”
Another White House insider said that “POTUS isn’t asking, ‘JD or Marco?’ anymore,” and that Trump has instead taken to saying “JD looks great, right?”
The claims come from an increasingly pro-Trump outlet, and from its most MAGA-coded reporter, Marc Caputo. Axios has become a reliable conduit for unchallenged briefings from sources inside the president’s orbit since he retook the White House. Caputo interviewed Trump himself three weeks ago for a new Axios-branded show.
Caputo’s story follows another pro-Vance item from ten days ago. Axios co-founder Mike Allen wrote on June 26 that Vance had raised $4.2 million at a single Silicon Valley dinner, tying that sum to “an expected 2028 run for president.” Both pieces lean on unnamed sources and point toward the presidential polls in two years’ time.
Vance has a book and a donor drive to promote. Last month, he published his latest memoir, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, while also raising roughly $70 million for the Republican National Committee. Axios reports that the vice-president sat down for more than 30 interviews over the same period, and is now slated for a book tour over the next several weeks.
The outlet writes that the vice president is also riding high after he and MAGA diplomatic goons, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, helped wrangle a tentative agreement to end Trump’s war with Iran in June.
It’s a win that looks softer on close inspection. Vance helped shape a provisional accord alongside two other members of Trump’s immediate circle. The deal only points toward a ceasefire. It does not actually deliver one, and an earlier round of talks Vance joined broke down with nothing to show.
Contrary to Axios’ claims of a seismic behind-the-scenes coronation, Trump has not publicly indicated any preference for either Vance or Rubio as his successor. He has dodged the question for months. He floated a Vance-Rubio ticket as recently as June 3, telling the New York Post that the two are “both great” and that there is “a long time left” before 2028.
Trump has plenty of reasons to hold off on an endorsement, given that a settled succession might threaten to diminish him within his own administration. Axios made that very point in February—but not without quoting five sources who warned against reading Trump as somehow cooling on Vance.
The outlet does flag some trouble ahead for Vance. Trump has apparently grown irritated with his ally Tucker Carlson, a MAGA talking head who has turned sharply on the president over his war in the Middle East. Pro-Israel conservatives also resent Vance’s part in the Iran deal and his swipes at Israel’s hard right.
Rubio, for his part, has denied any ambition for the top job and has repeatedly said he would back Vance if the vice president runs. “Marco doesn’t have pipe hitters. Vance does,” one Rubio ally reportedly told Axios. “JD’s looking good, and everyone in the administration knows it,” they added.
The Daily Beast has contacted Vance’s office for further comment on this story.
