Trump Pushes Back On Report About His Political Heir

President Donald Trump on Thursday downplayed a report suggesting he had already settled on Vice President JD Vance as his preferred successor to carry his MAGA movement forward. 

The Washington Post reported Thursday that Trump has privately encouraged donors to support Vance’s future presidential ambitions, citing anonymous sources familiar with the conversations. 

“At the end of the day, we need to elect JD,” Trump reportedly told donors during an Oval Office meeting two weeks ago, according to the report. 

The outlet also cited six additional “Trumpworld advisors” who anonymously said they did not believe a Vance endorsement was a done deal.

“Anyone assuming it’s a lock is just getting way ahead of themselves, or just doesn’t know the president very well,” one Trump administration official told The Post. 

Hours later in the Oval Office, The Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese posed the question to Trump directly. 

“No. I heard about it a little while ago. I think he’s great,” Trump said of Vance. “We’re way too early to even be thinking about that.”  

The Post reported that Trump has grown increasingly impressed with Vance’s performance as vice president, highlighting his role in brokering the Iran ceasefire that later collapsed, leading a federal task force targeting fraud, and entering the media lion’s den to promote his book and Catholic conversion.

Vance has not publicly confirmed whether he plans to run for president. Some early polling suggests Vance is the frontrunner, though other potential contenders have gained ground.

After the vice president, Secretary of State Marco Rubio polls the strongest among Republican primary voters, according to the most recent survey data.  A New Hampshire poll released in July showed support for Vance slipping significantly in the Granite State. About 36% of likely GOP primary voters backed Vance, down sharply from 53% in February. Rubio appeared to capitalize on the shift, more than tripling his support from 7% to 26%, The Daily Wire reported. 

While Vance’s support has softened in some early-state polling, he continues to lead nationally. The RealClearPolitics polling average still shows Vance with a commanding 18.2-point national lead over a hypothetical field of Republican rivals, including Rubio, Donald Trump Jr., Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Speculation about Trump’s eventual endorsement has also been fueled by divisions within the conservative movement over U.S. policy toward Iran. In a Wednesday interview with FOX News, Vance denied any daylight with the president over foreign policy. 

“The president runs this administration. He is the very top of the administration. He makes orders. We, of course, have debates and conversations about what exactly we should do. But when the president of the United States makes a decision, we are unified in this administration in carrying out that mission,” Vance said.