Trump's going to choose his heir - and it's not Vance or Rubio: GOP insider

On Friday, a longtime Republican insider alleged not only that President Donald Trump will be the one to choose his heir to run for the Oval Office in 2028, but that he already has names in mind – they don’t, however, include Vice President JD Vance. This is according to Bill Kristol, a Republican strategist and veteran of a number of presidential administrations, who explained on the Bulwark why Vance’s bid for power is destined to fail in the face of more devoted Trump loyalists.

Kristol begins by discussing the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas, noting that “Vance got a mediocre reception,” ineffectively attempting to hype up the crowd before being “ushered off the stage.” Then, says Kristol, “Trump shows up, hooplah, the whole thing closes with Trump and music, and JD Vance is nowhere to be seen. That’s kind of amusing, and I think, incidentally, confirms… it is not clear at all that Donald Trump wants JD Vance to be his successor, or that JD Vance can be his successor.”

Bulwark contributor Tim Miller asked Kristol about Donald Trump Jr., saying he was an “obvious alternative” to Vance, as the former offers more authentic MAGA identity than Vance. “JD Vance,” said Miller, “is a product of venture capital, Peter Thiel world. He is not a genuine populist. It’s all fake.”

“Are we so sure Trump’s not going to run again?” wondered Kristol. “A: I’m not sure of that. B: I’m not sure that he doesn’t try to anoint Trump Jr. And C: Someone like Hegseth. Right now I don’t know who I’d bet on to be the nominee, but this idea that Rubio is second to Vance is ludicrous. I think Hegseth is more likely to be the Republican nominee than Rubio. Hegseth is more like Trump. He’s an unbelievably shameless demagogue, but all the idiotic manosphere stuff resonates, I suppose. I mean, he’s losing a war, so who knows. But in Trumpworld, they’re so far removed from reality at this point that who knows.”

“Vance is playing politics from 15 years ago,” Kristol added. “‘I’m subtly leaking that I was getting briefings that things were going well and weighing in privately with Trump, and then I’ll give a speech and say, well, people will differ on the war, but we need to work together.’ He thinks that that’s enough?”

In the end, says Kristol, Trump will choose his successor with one thing in mind: “Who can he be sure will sustain the grift and not go after him and all of his allies? It’s not just Trump now. We’re now dealing with hundreds, maybe thousands of people in this administration who are unbelievably determined to keep power in 2028. That’s why the election subversion stuff is so serious. Somewhat serious in 2026 but mostly serious as a predicate for ‘28. And who would actually take power? They can’t let the Democrats win, and they don’t trust anyone much outside their own circle to keep it going. Put those two things together, and the idea that we’re going to have a normal ‘democratic’ republican primary is ridiculous. Trump is going to have massive thumbs on the scale.”