Donald Trump Refuses to Back J.D. Vance as 2028 President, Says It's 'Too Early' to Decide

Donald Trump was questioned by reporters at the White House on Tuesday, August 5, about whether or not he thinks Vice President J.D. Vance is fit to replace him as president in 2028. However, as the man who appointed Vance as second in command, the president’s response was quite shocking.

“I think most likely — in all fairness, he’s the vice president,” Trump begrudgingly said. “I think Marco [Rubio] is also somebody that maybe would get together with J.D. in some form.”

“I also think we have incredible people, some of the people on the stage right here,” Trump added. “So it’s too early, obviously, to talk about it, but certainly he’s doing a great job, and he would be probably favored at this point.”

On the same day Trump snubbed Vance as his successor, he was interviewed by CNBC, where he revisited the idea of running for a third term despite it not being an option, per the 22nd Amendment.

“I’d like to run; I have the best poll numbers I’ve ever had,” Trump stated. “You know why? Because people love the tariffs, and they love that foreign countries aren’t ripping us off.” When he continued to be pressed about the topic, the 79-year-old world leader went on to say, “Probably not.”

In March, Trump floated around the idea of running for a third term. While taking a phone interview in the Oval Office, the president claimed that “a lot of people want me to do it.”

“But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration. It’s far too early to think about it,” he noted, adding that he is “focused on the current term.”

Although Vance was chosen by Trump to be his VP, the 41-year-old despised the president before becoming his running mate.

“I can’t stomach Trump. I think that he’s noxious and is leading the White working class to a very dark place,” Vance told NPR in 2016.

During the same year, Vance wrote and deleted a harsh social media post about the president after a video of him talking about how easy it is to grope women resurfaced. “Fellow Christians, everyone is watching us. When we apologize for this man, lord help us,” the VP said.