Watch: Trump Indicates He Doesn't Yet View JD Vance As His Successor
This was awkward and unexpected, but on Tuesday in front of reporters' cameras, President Trump refused to commit to endorsing Vice President JD Vance for president in 2028.
He shrugged off a direct question about it, saying instead that Republicans first need to get through the midterms. Vance, standing behind the president in the Oval, seemed deeply uncomfortable when Trump noted that the two had never discussed such an endorsement - though he did call Vance "deeply talented".
“He’s a very talented person and he’s a very good person,” Trump said when asked alongside Vance in the Oval Office.
“I don’t think we’ve ever talked about it,” the president said, turning to Vance.
“No, sir. I said that too,” Vance chimed in. “Who would believe that?” Trump said, “I don’t talk about it with him. He doesn’t talk about it [with me]. It’s early.”
“We have to get through the midterms. We’ll see how it goes,” he added
Trump insisted it's too early, but the exchange raises huge questions about the Republican Party's future leadership, given other big contenders could be waiting in the wings, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The moment was all the more awkward for Vance given it came a mere day after the Vice President said he believed Trump would indeed endorse him if he ran for 2028.
Here's what Vance said in an interview on Monday, though he was obviously speculating:
“I think I would get his endorsement, but I also think there’s something to be said for people actually running their own race,” the vice president said.
“And because the president’s endorsement is so dispositive, you could absolutely see a scenario where the president says, ‘You know what? We need to let like this race play out and not preemptively prejudge the results.’”
JD Vance: I think if I run, Trump will endorse me. I think I would get an endorsement https://t.co/G1obOG43hF
— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) October 20, 2026
When it comes to one of the biggest Trump policies which has divided the American public - the Iran war and fallout in energy prices - Vance has by and large tried to stay in the background.
And...
Shots fired! JD is still the polling frontrunner and, ignoring an outsider, probably the only one with a path to winning. But Trump is surrounded by people who want other candidates.
— Mark Mitchell, Honest Pollster (@honestpollster) October 21, 2026
Recent public statements issued by Vance in a town hall suggested that he had not been on board the White House's decision to launch the Iran war to begin with. He faced very tough questions particularly on Trump's launching Operation Epic Fury just days ago.
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Meanwhile, speaking of endorsements or lack thereof on other fronts...
JD Vance didn't "go out of his way" to refuse to endorse Netanyahu. He was explicitly asked in an interview and said: I endorse American candidates, not foreign ones. But the fact that Fox News think it's "anti-Israel" to refrain from endorsing Netanyahu -- as if that's a duty of an American Vice President -- shows the subliminal servitude to Israel embedded in the brains for decades of our bipartisan political and media class.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 20, 2026