Vance Uses White House Briefing to Raise 2028 Profile

The White House press briefing room has emerged as an informal audition stage in the intensifying race to succeed President Donald Trump in 2028. After a similar appearance by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance took the podium on Tuesday.

Filling in for press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave, Vance spent nearly an hour answering questions from reporters on a wide range of topics. He defended Trump’s increasingly unpopular Iran war, a newly created $1.8bn fund to compensate Trump allies who say they were politically prosecuted and the decision to scrap a US troop deployment to Poland.

Vance answered in a mostly measured manner, in contrast to Trump’s more confrontational style, and at times seemed bemused as reporters shouted over one another for his attention.

“Marco's right, this really is chaos”, Vance said.

Both men are seen as contenders for the 2028 Republican nomination. Trump has continued to fuel succession talk even as Vance and Rubio downplay their ambitions. At a Rose Garden dinner last week, he asked guests: “Who likes JD Vance?” and “Who likes Marco Rubio?”

Trump said the two men running together would make “a perfect ticket”, but stressed that he was not endorsing either man.

In a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Tuesday, 34% of Americans said they had a favorable view of Vance and 33% said the same of Rubio.

(reuters, bak)