Concerns about the 2028 presidential election and Republican ticket has officially entered the Palace.
Turn on Monday nightTrump informally polled guests at a dinner in the White House’s Rose Garden on their preferred candidate. “Who likes JD Vance? Who likes Marco Rubio?” he said, before suggesting a Vance-Rubio ticket would be a “dream team.”
of Trump Student– The style of the crowd was a dignified moment that hid the fact that in the past few days, White House aides have been grappling with the difficult – and still distant – question of who will be the Republican nominee.
The president has made a number of snap votes in recent weeks, a source familiar with the matter tells WIRED. The results have been notable, they say: When Trump polled donors at Mar-a-Lago, they favored Rubio. But when Trump recently polled a group of law enforcement officials the White House thinks are perhaps more representative of the average voter, they favored Vance.
Vance remains a presumptive nominee, White House sources tell me, but he has been taking nothing for granted. In fact, the vice president’s top advisers began the week gathering at the retreat to discuss political strategy, the sources said.
He has also taken steps to strengthen his political team, which has remained intact since his days as a US senator, ahead of what could be. bruises in the middle for Republicans as they grapple with the political fallout of the Iran war and the House GOP spending package that allocates $1 billion to Trump’s ballpark project, among other issues.
Vance began discussing changes to his team, including the addition of Cliff Sims as his new national security adviser and the promotion of Will Martin to deputy chief of staff, in January, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Sims, whose new position was announced yesterdayhe is widely regarded in Washington as a ruthless politician who can strengthen the vice president through his long experience in Trumpworld and close ties to a crop of senior administration officials.
Chief among them is his relationship with CIA director John Ratcliffe—whom Sims has used for the past year as an outside consultant, according to multiple sources familiar with the deal. Sources tell me they expect Vance and Ratcliffe to work more closely together to increase the vice president’s influence on national security policy.
Sims, who is not expected to start for several weeks, is also likely to begin crafting the vice president’s political message. He previously served as White House press assistant and, later, as director of communications in the office of the director of national intelligence.
Of course, the head of the National Security Council is none other than Rubio, who holds the title of Trump’s national security adviser as well as secretary of state.
Rumors about Rubio’s potential as a 2028 candidate erupted last week when he filled in for press secretary Karoline Leavitt to brief reporters on the Iran war. His appearance dominated the news about whether he can run for president.
“There is no secret plan to make Rubio president,” one Rubio aide said on condition of anonymity, adding that the secretary of state did not commit to the meeting, which instead came at the behest of the White House.
Still, Rubioworld is quietly pleased about the positive coverage his meeting generated, according to people familiar with the matter. The White House then posted a clip of Rubio explaining his vision for America on X, which almost resembles the president’s stump speech.
