Posted on 05/30/2026 9:44:11 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
In recent conversations with aides and allies, President Trump often interjects with a question about his vice president: Does JD Vance have what it takes to go all the way?
He usually answers his own question: He’s not so sure.
It is not that Mr. Trump is abandoning Mr. Vance. He involves him in major decisions, has given him high-profile opportunities to position himself for 2028 and trusts the 41-year-old vice president to wage partisan warfare on his behalf. In a cabinet meeting this week, Mr. Trump compared Mr. Vance to Eliot Ness, the mob-busting federal agent, for working to ferret out fraud in mostly Democratic controlled states.
Mr. Trump has long conducted running focus groups on his closest aides, and appears to enjoy needling them and keeping them off balance as a way of asserting his dominance. Several people in the president’s inner circle have been subject to his quasi-public questioning of their performance and their future.
But when it comes to Mr. Vance, the stakes are higher. As the default front-runner for the Republican nomination and would-be inheritor of the president’s political movement, Mr. Vance’s fortunes ride to a substantial degree on the enthusiasm of the support he gets from Mr. Trump. And Mr. Trump’s regular polling of people on whether they prefer Mr. Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio has become one of the most closely watched early indicators of how power in the Republican Party might pass to the next generation.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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Rubio 2028
Vance is a lightweight
you post another article to create division ...
You called it.
Deep State loves ginning up games of lets-you-and-him-fight.
Let’s refuse to play. :-)
The Iran ceasefire fiasco has created doubts about both Rubio and Vance for me.
I look forward to voting for DeSantis.
The Free Republic money meter indicates people are losing faith in Republican ability to solve problems.
The RNC squandering big money on a Texas primary means the RNC will have a harder time raising funds.
And his comical 2016 presidential debate encounter with Chris Christie should have ended his career in national politics. He may very well have been the dumbest Republican in the U.S. Senate.
The failure of Trump to ask Congress to pause the War Powers Resolution clock for a ceasefire reflects badly on Team Trump.
Ron DeSantis is the perfect post-Trump president.
He’s a true conservative visionary.
The liberal establishment newspaper is trying to clear the path for a Neocon lightweight like Rubio to win the primary and lose the general election in 2028. No on the record sources and no objective criticisms, just unverifyable secondhand libel. They are chewing at the Republican, Vance, who is more likely to win in the general election. It’s what leftist newspapers like the NY Slimes always does.
The Iran fiasco should elevate Vance’s credibility through the roof. He and Tulsi Gabbard were the two senior officials in this administration that were long opposed to these stupid, useless military campaigns.
Using the NY Slimes as a source is a fine joke; they are stone-cold liars 99.9% of the time.
The New York Times sures has a treasure trove of unnamed sources.
” Divide and conquer “.
The oldest tactic in the books.
I already had a solid list of reasons why I would never want that guy in the White House — even BEFORE that.
I would have never voted for Rubio for President at any time ever, in the past (before he took the position in the Trump Administration).
But in my eyes, Rubio has subjugated his personal ambitions to the goals of the Trump agenda, so that counts a great deal in my book. I believe he will be a strong candidate if he runs.
I am interested to hear why you think Vance is a lightweight. Can you provide anything concrete to back that up, or is it simply because you prefer Rubio?
There is nothing wrong in preferring one candidate over another, but I think you can do just that without the need to slander J.D. Vance as a "lightweight".
And one more thing-this is a New York Times article.
New York Times.
If you want to side with the New York Times on anything, you should carefully consider that. When you hear The New York Times say anything about any conservative person, it is certain, and without doubt, to push a Leftist agenda.
Always, and without question. Especially when they profess to know what is in the mind of any Conservative, and use "...sources say...". It is a lie.
It is wise, given the preponderance of what they have written since before I was born, to keep that fact in mind.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/debate-takeaways-rubio-stuck-in-a-loop-christie-on-the-attack
“He may very well have been the dumbest Republican in the U.S. Senate.”
Many people lack debate skills. There’s a reason I’m not a trial lawyer.
Many trial lawyers make an effort to be strongly focused on the case at hand rather than knowing a lot about a lot of things.
Absolutely. As I said in my post above, I would have never voted for him as a Presidential candidate before 2024.
But his subsuming himself into the Trump agenda completely and without question, is a hugely positive action on his part.
Sure. He was known in the past for being a chameleon to advance his personal ambitions, and that might explain his performance in this administration...but he has dispelled that at least for me.
I am not one who believes with 100% certainty that people cannot change their leopard spots. We have to believe that can happen, how else can we explain the likes of David Horowitz and Tulsi Gabbard?
“comical 2016 presidential debate encounter”
Using debates is a poor method of picking presidents as the method favors lawyers.
Agreed. There is something about Vance that puts me off. For those who are familiar with the movie ‘The Big Lebowski’, he sometimes reminds me of Mr. Lebowski’s personal assistant; a bit smarmy. I like that Rubio has been around for a while, and so is more of a known quantity. I also like that Rubio seems to be naturally evolving into a true leader. My skepticism of all politics and politicians aside, he seem mostly trustworthy and effective. Practically, he also has the possible appeal to the Latinos in our nation, which is a bigger and bigger deal as time passes.
“He may very well have been the dumbest Republican in the U.S. Senate.”
I wish I were as “dumb” as Rubio.
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