Vice President Vance on Wednesday disclosed his close relationship with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, following President Trump’s suggestion that they will succeed him in 2028.
The New York Post’s Miranda Devine raised the issue with Vance on the podcast “Pod Force One” and noted that Trump has not specified who would be president and who would be vice president. Given Rubio’s experience and previous presidential run in 2016, she asked if there could be tension between the two Republicans.
“First of all, no, there’s not going to be any tension,” Vance said. “Marco is my best friend in the administration. He and I work a lot together and we really do, I think — a lot of the good work that we do as an administration is because we’re all able to work together.”
“Again, this is why I say worrying too much about the politics actually, I think, makes you worse at the job that you have,” Vance continued. “I never want to wake up — and so far I’ve never woken up and thought to myself, ‘How do I make myself president of the United States?’ What I wake up and think to myself is, ‘How do I do a good job as vice president?'”
“And I think Marco Rubio, as himself, ‘How do I do a good job as secretary of state?'” Vance said.
Vance also called the potential for a Vance-Rubio 2028 ticket “premature.”
Vance and Rubio both served in the U.S. Senate as colleagues before joining the Trump administration. Rubio, 54, was elected to the Senate in 2010, while Vance, 41, was elected in 2022.
Talk of such a ticket came up when Trump, speaking with reporters on Air Force One while flying to Japan on Monday, suggested them as his successors.
“We have JD obviously, the vice president, who’s great,” Trump said. “Marco’s great. I’m not sure if anyone would run against those two. I think if they ever formed a group it would be unstoppable.”
Reporters asked if he could clarify that he was ruling himself out of running for a third term, despite constitutional term limits, but Trump replied, “Am I not ruling it out? You’ll have to tell me.”
Speculation over Trump’s future after his second term ends in 2029 reemerged following former White House advisor Steve Bannon’s interview with The Economist, which was released on Thursday. In ther interview, Bannon contended taht there was a plan in the works for Trump to secure a third term. Bannon did not elaborate but said at “the appropriate time, we’ll lay out what the plan is.”
“Well he’s going to get a third term. So, Trump ‘28, Trump is going to be president in ‘28 and people ought to just get accommodated with that,” Bannon said.
Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have both started to dismiss the idea of a third Trump term since the Bannon interview, despite Trump having talked about running again at least a half dozen times during the first nine months of his second term.
“And I would say that, if you read it, it’s pretty clear. I’m not allowed to run. It’s too bad,” Trump told reporters again aboard Air Force One, this time en route to South Korea. “But we have a lot of great people.”
On Tuesday, Johnson said it was something he and Trump talked about.
“It’s been a great run, but I think the president knows — and he and I’ve talked about the constrictions of the Constitution, as much as so many of the American people lament that,” Johnson said at a press conference.
“The Trump 2028 cap is one of the most popular that’s ever been produced,” Johnson added.
After two terms, presidents are barred from running for a third term, according to the 22nd Amendment. The term limit was ratified in 1951, years after President Franklin D. Roosevelt ran and won a third in 1940 and then a fourth term in 1944 before his death the following year.
