(AFP) – If it was an audition to succeed Donald Trump in 2028, US Vice President JD Vance was keeping it low-key as he held a briefing at the White House on Tuesday. “I’m not a potential future candidate, I’m a vice president,” the 41-year-old said when a reporter suggested that he would be aiming for the presidency in two years. “And I really like my job, and I’m going to try to do as good of a job as I can.”
But no one could ignore the elephant in the room. Just two weeks earlier, the same podium was occupied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio — widely viewed as Vance’s most likely rival for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination. The situation increasingly resembles an episode from The Apprentice, the blockbuster reality show that made Trump a TV star and helped pave his way to the presidency. Last week, Vance even joked about the similarity himself, when asked about reports that Trump has been polling within the Republican party on whether they prefer Vance or Rubio. “I just don’t think it sounds like the president of the United States to have a televised competition for who would succeed him as his apprentice,” Vance said during a May 13 press conference, sparking some laughs.
Rubio has also repeatedly played down talk of a rivalry to head the Republican ticket in 2028. Yet there is growing speculation of a battle ahead. Vance’s role as the Republican National Committee’s finance chair has given him grassroots connections and links to potential donors, while Rubio’s high-profile foreign policy role under Trump could also be an asset.
And on Tuesday, all eyes were certainly on whether Vance could repeat Rubio’s relaxed performance as a stand-in for White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave. The vice president even recycled some of Rubio’s jokes, saying “Marco’s right, this really is chaos!” as reporters clamored to get his attention. He also joked about Leavitt, saying he would take her place on the condition “she would be vice president for a couple of weeks” when his wife Usha gives birth to their fourth child in July.
But Vance didn’t always seem as comfortable as Rubio, repeatedly relying on a seating chart for reporters in the briefing room and often turning to right-wing outlets. Rubio, by contrast, had freestyled his picks of who got to ask questions, and even dropped in some classic rap lyrics. Vance stuck to business and spent much of his time being forced to defend the creation of a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate Trump allies who believe they were unfairly prosecuted under the Biden administration. He joked at one point that even Hunter Biden, who was convicted of a gun crime before being pardoned by his father Joe Biden shortly before the Democrat left office last year, could avail himself of the fund.
Vance also talked about the Iran war, saying talks were making “good progress” but that Trump was “locked and loaded” to restart military action if needed. Vance led a delegation to Pakistan last month to meet Iranian officials. But like Rubio before him, some of Vance’s answers also appeared to be aimed at potential voters for 2028. Catholic convert Vance repeatedly referenced his religion and referred to “our Christian heritage as a civilization” — echoing his previous endorsement of a Christian nationalist agenda under Trump.
As a message, it was tailor-made to appeal to Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, parts of which still seem to regard Vance with suspicion. And Vance also appeared to hint at the importance of loyalty to the 79-year-old second-term president who will soon have to anoint his chosen MAGA successor. Vance was asked about Trump’s endorsement of scandal-plagued but loyalist Texas attorney general Ken Paxton in a high-stakes Senate primary runoff. “When it really counted,” Vance said, “Ken Paxton…was there for the president.”
– Danny KEMP
© 2024 AFP
