In the early hours of February 28, President Donald Trump and his administration joined Israel in launching a wave of strikes on Iran, and later that night, he asked a group of nearly 25 GOP donors at Mar-a-Lago in Florida whom they would rather support for president in 2028: Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Vice President J.D. Vance.Attendees overwhelmingly referenced Rubio with their cheers, according to two people who were at the event. “It was almost unanimous for Marco,” said one attendee, who, like others in this article, was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Yes, that’s right,” the second attendee said about Trump’s unofficial poll. “It was clear, at least that night.” Another person in the room described the response as “evenly split” between Rubio and Vance, NBC News reported.
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Donors included New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and billionaire Georgia gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson.A former Trump administration official said the rally doesn’t necessarily mean Rubio is the new favorite over Vance for 2028. “The Mar-a-Lago donor crew are not jackpot people,” the former official said. “He was not chosen [to be vice president] Because of the Mar-a-Lago crowd. “If you remember, this crowd was pressuring the president to choose Marco.”
The former official added: “So, I would say things like this are a bit of a rigged game.
If there was a poll to be taken tomorrow, I would bet the Jordanian Dinar would still be up 40 [points]Or whatever.”This was not the first time that Trump asked those in his orbit about how he would get involved in the upcoming political battle to replace him as the standard bearer of the Republican Party, and this indicated that the president planned to play a major role and was interested early in the future of the party.
Trump appeared to relish his ability to be a kingmaker in a race that could pit senior members of his administration against each other, highlighting how fluid things are in Trump’s orbit and how quickly the president’s thinking can change.“The President has assembled an all-star team that has achieved unprecedented success in just over one year,” White House spokesman Stephen Cheung said in a statement.
He added: “No amount of crazy media speculation about Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio will deter this administration’s mission to fight for the American people.”For months, Vance was viewed as the favorite to become the 2028 GOP nominee, a dynamic underscored by most public polls and Trump’s own comments. An NBC News poll last week found that 77% of Republican voters have a favorable view of Vance, compared to 66% for Rubio.Vance or Rubio: Who is Trump’s choice?In August, Trump told Fox News that Vance was “probably” the heir to the MAGA movement and “probably the favorite at this point.” Rubio mentioned at the same time. “In all fairness, he’s the vice president, and I think Marco is also someone who might get together with J.D. in some capacity,” Trump said.Trump also mentioned Rubio in an interview with NBC News in May, when he described him as a “great” potential leader of the Republican Party.
In an interview last month with NBC News, Trump addressed the differences between the two men. “I would say one is a little more diplomatic than the other,” Trump said, without mentioning them by name, although diplomacy is Rubio’s job. “I think they are both very intelligent.”In recent weeks, Trump has increasingly praised Rubio, who, because of his duties as secretary of state and national security adviser, has been front and center as the administration has increasingly focused on foreign policy battles in Venezuela, Iran and possibly Cuba. At a White House event on Thursday for Major League Soccer champion Inter Miami, Trump twice drew special attention to Rubio. “I’m telling you he’s going to be the best Secretary of State in the history of the country, Marco Rubio,” Trump said. He added: “I don’t want him to be too popular. You know, when they get too popular, suddenly you see: Where is Marco? He’s not there anymore.”While Rubio’s profile rose thanks to the foreign policy portfolio, Vance, by contrast, faded further into the background.Rubio was present in the makeshift war room at Mar-a-Lago when the Iranian strikes were launched, while Vance was in Washington, where he was photographed at the head of the table where the president usually sits, drinking Mountain Dew in the situation room. A White House spokesman said Vance was not at Mar-a-Lago because of the administration’s security protocols to “maintain operational confidentiality” and “to limit the presence of the President and Vice President away from the White House.”
“Vance was the first member of the administration to defend the war on national television. He and Second Lady Osha Vance joined Trump on Saturday as the remains of fallen US service members arrived at Dover Air Force Base. But since his appearance on Fox News on March 2, Vance has done little to confront the public with his war messaging, and his aggressive social media presence has been relatively quiet.“The entire national security team, including the Vice President, has been continually engaged in active deliberations about operations in Iran,” Vance spokesman Taylor Van Kirk said in a statement to this article.The war put Vance, an Iraq War veteran who has long been against U.S. involvement in messy foreign conflicts, in a position not entirely consistent with his personal views. While Vance has been more hawkish on Iran and its nuclear capabilities, he has expressed reservations about attacking the country, a person familiar with his thinking told NBC News.Trump has not chosen either candidate yet, but his previous speeches reflect that he loved them and wanted either of them to lead the Republican Party.
