Ah?
Donald?
They starting to make you lame duck ALREADY?
Just eight months after President Trump picked JD Vance to be his vice president, Vance is already positioned to be MAGA’s heir apparent for 2028.
- “I think it’s inevitable at this point that Vance will be the [GOP] nominee in 2028,” Sen. Jim Banks (R-Indiana), a close Trump ally, tells Axios. “He’s the future of the America First movement and he’s already proven himself.”
Why it matters: Many of Trump’s longest-serving aides and most fervent supporters now see the vice president as the vehicle to lock in Trump’s worldview for at least the next decade
- In their view, Trump broke the old Republican Party — and Vance can finish building the new one.
Driving the news: Vance has won over Trump’s base with combative public performances, by savvily managing relationships with Trump’s team, and by showing unwavering fealty to Trump’s vision….
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At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February, Vance easily won a straw poll of potential 2028 GOP nominees with 61%. Steve Bannon — an official in Trump’s first White House, who now presides over the powerful “War Room” podcast — came in a distant second with 12%.
- Jim McLaughlin, the pollster who conducted the survey, said Vance won because he’s “viewed as the closest thing to Donald Trump.”
Vance also has enjoyed a boost from the growing MAGA media sphere of podcasts and influencers.
- Matt Boyle, Washington bureau chief for Trump-friendly Breitbart News, said that when it comes to 2028, “Vance is clearly the far, runaway frontrunner, and no one else can hold a candle to him right now.”
- “He’s also been very smart about developing strong relationships with a lot of the MAGA America First OG’s, and with Congress in passing President Trump’s agenda and confirming the president’s Cabinet,” Boyle added.
MAGA media star Jack Posobiec, who has many ties with Trump administration figures and traveled with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine, regularly refers to Vance as “48” — the 48th president.
- Vance, 40, is a digital native — and, in some ways, a more natural online fit than his boss.
Reality check: Even some Vance boosters concede he doesn’t have the showmanship that made Trump a reality TV star and political phenomenon….
image…Financial Times
“ Inevitable?”
Hardly.
Vance may be getting out front too early.Trump doesn’t like anyone else in the limelight.
Further, there are numerous Republicans who have been in the background while harboring presidential ambitions.