By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-13 00:32:34 | Updated at 2026-08-13 02:06:25
1 hour ago
Marco Rubio, international man of mystery, would like to be president of the United States.
Unlike many people frequently discussed as potential future Oval Office occupants, he has run for the job before, striving for nearly a year during the 2016 Republican nomination.
Rubio, 55, is also more established and admired by the public and the powerful than he was ten years ago, seasoned by his tenure in the Senate and widely praised for his service as Trump's second term secretary of state.
He is older (albeit still boyish), wiser (visibly more confident in his wisdom) and able to project far more gravitas (underpinned by the critical global demands and granularities of his cabinet role). His resume has been burnished. His familial obligations are less insistent; his children are now all young adults.
Yet even if Rubio wanted to run in 2028, he is blocked by something.
Or, rather, by someone.
His good pal, Vice President JD Vance.
If Vance wants the presidential nomination, it is almost certainly his. President Donald Trump will unquestionably endorse him. And in that case, Rubio – aware of the long-odds of opposing Trump's pick and temperamentally opposed to a political knife-fight with a respected friend – would not run.
Marco Rubio, international man of mystery, would like to be president of the United States. Unlike many people frequently discussed as potential future Oval Office occupants, he has run for the job before
If JD Vance wants the presidential nomination, it is almost certainly his. President Donald Trump will unquestionably endorse him
Rubio, 55, is seasoned by his tenure in the Senate and widely praised for his service as President Trump's second term secretary of state
The reason for Trump's choice is clearer than ever before: He and his son Don Jr (long a kingmaker in a party remade by his father) believe Vance to be a truer representative of MAGA – more populist, more pro-government interventionalist and more isolationist – than Rubio.
Vance also has something else that Rubio does not – a deep personal connection to the Trumps (They really, really like Marco. They love JD) and the grassroots of the MAGA movement.
Vance and Don Jr were included on text chains with Charlie Kirk, as the Turning Point USA founder crisscrossed the country, campaigning for President Trump. The Vances developed close ties to Erika Kirk before Charlie's assassination, which have only been strengthened since.
Who can forget the heartrending moment Erika grasped Usha Vance's hand as they stepped off Air Force Two, which has carried her husband's body home to Arizona?
It can also not go without mention that Vance is far closer to the Tucker Carlson fringe of the MAGA movement than the establishment-pick Rubio.
And lastly, there is something else that passed almost without much public discussion at the time but showed the direction things were headed. In March 2025, Vance became the first sitting vice president to become the finance chair of the Republican National Committee, a key fundraising role that put him squarely in the middle of charting the party's future.
The handwriting has been on the wall for some time now.
Again, it's Vance's nomination if he wants it.
The key word is if.
It is entirely possible that, as the 2028 presidential election cycle begins and Trump winds down his second term in office, Vance, 42, will decide not to run. He now has four children, including a newborn. Running for president is not just a job application. It is a years-long invasion of privacy; of quiet weekends and autonomy.
Does Vance, with children nine, six, four years, and three weeks old, really want to spend the next half dozen years relentlessly fighting to win and then occupy the Oval Office?
Only he and Usha know the answer. My reporting indicates that question has not been decided. And President Trump is just as interested as everyone else to hear Vance's reply.
Trump has always been fascinated by ambition and sparked to the spectacle of competition, talent and accomplishment, but he is especially intrigued by the speculation over his two Alpha mentees, Vance and Rubio.
In recent months, Trump has absorbed an endless stream of input from a certain type of Republican: donors, members of Congress, CEOs, lobbyists and Mar-a-Lago regulars, who beseech him to pass over Vance and anoint Rubio as his heir apparent.
Their pitch is simple. Rubio is sunny. Vance is stormy. Rubio is solid, Vance is slick. Rubio is relatable. Vance is to some ears off pitch.
Vance now has four children, including a newborn. Running for president is not just a job application. It is a years-long invasion of privacy; of quiet weekends and autonomy
Vance and Don Jr were included on text chains with Charlie Kirk, as the Turning Point USA founder crisscrossed the country, campaigning for President Trump
Mark Halperin is the editor-in-chief and host of the interactive live video platform 2AY and the host of the video podcast 'Next Up' on the Megyn Kelly Network
Rubio has taken a measured public approach when discussing the US's most delicate international relationships, such as with Europe, Israel and Ukraine. Vance has spouted off openly against American allies, leaving controversy and media muddles in his wake.
Rubio has built a large network of valuable Republican allies, including powerful confidantes such as his former Senate aides and current chief of staff Susie Wiles. Vance is brand-new to the political world, precocious and untested despite being placed like a hand-painted porcelain doll onto the highest ornamental shelf in politics.
Whether they are right is beside the point. That is what they believe and they are not shy about trashing JD Vance to the media, to the voters and to his boss.
I have rarely seen anything quite like it. A wide swathe of Republican elite so openly hostile to a sitting vice president with obvious presidential potential. The blatant eyerolling, muttering, bile-spewing and vituperative castigation directed toward Vance from the party establishment is unprecedented.
The irony is that none of it matters very much.
'The MAGA segment of the party likes Vance's verbal pugilism and personal story. The party establishment like Rubio's agile mind and inspiring speaking skills, his deep understanding of the complex world and his maturity. Trump instinctively understands the need for both parts of the GOP to come together to win in 2028,' a top Republican who knows Rubio, Vance and Trump told me.
Trump has made the decision that the coalition will better be secured by Vance.
Though if Vance doesn't run in 2028, Trump would almost certainly endorse Rubio. Vance almost certainly would as well and much of the Cabinet would follow.
Rubio's efforts in 2016 were hardly discreditable. As with every other Republican who ran in 2016, Rubio failed to stop Trump. That is hardly a unique scar. Trump manifestly is one of the greatest political athletes of the modern era.
And in 2028, Rubio could quickly put the band back together, reassembling the high-powered campaign team and donors who backed him a decade ago, almost all of whom remain lifetime conscripts in the 'Get Marco to the White House' army.
Other Republicans may throw their hat into the ring. Ted Cruz. Rand Paul. Perhaps a few other bold, creative contenders.
If Vance and Rubio pass, then the Republican nomination will be open wider than a gazebo in a hurricane.
