In the early hours of February 28, as President Donald Trump and his administration launched a wave of strikes against Iran along with Israel, he asked about 25 Republican donors at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, which 2028 president they wanted him to support: Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Vice President J.D. Vance.According to two people who attended the event, the vast majority of attendees paid tribute to Rubio with cheers. “Marco was almost unanimous,” said one attendee, who like others in this article was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Yeah, that’s right,” a second attendee said of the informal Trump poll. “It was clear, at least that night.” Another person in the room said Rubio and Vance’s reactions were “evenly divided,” NBC News reported.Donors include New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and billionaire Georgia gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson.A former Trump administration official said the gathering does not necessarily mean Rubio becomes the new favorite in 2028, over Vance. “The people who donated at Mar-a-Lago were not JD people,” the former official said. “He wasn’t selected [to be vice president] Because of the Mar-a-Lago crowd. If you remember, that group was lobbying the president to choose Marco. The former official added: “So, I would say something like this is a little bit gamified.” If a poll were taken tomorrow I bet JD would still be ahead by 40 [points]or whatever it is. “It’s not the first time Trump has asked those close to him how he should be involved in the coming political fight to replace him as the Republican standard-bearer, a sign of the president’s plans to play a big role and his early interest in the party’s future. Trump appears to be relishing his potential to become a kingmaker in a race that could pit top members of his own administration against each other, underscoring how unstable things are in Trump’s orbit and how quickly the president’s thinking can shift.“The president has assembled an all-star team that has achieved unprecedented success in just over a year,” White House spokesman Steven Chang said in a statement. “The frantic media speculation about Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio will not deter this administration’s mission to fight for the American people.”For months, Vance has been viewed as the front-runner for the 2028 Republican nomination, a dynamic underscored by most public polls and comments from Trump himself. An NBC News poll released last week found that 77% of Republican voters have a positive view of Vance, compared with 66% of Rubio.Vance or Rubio: Who does Trump choose?In August, Trump told Fox News that Vance was “most likely” the heir apparent to the MAGA movement and was “probably favored at the moment.” He also mentioned Rubio. “To be fair, he’s the vice president, and I think Marco is also someone who might work with JD.com in some form,” Trump said.Trump also mentioned Rubio in a May interview with NBC News, when he called Rubio a “great” potential Republican leader. In an interview with NBC News last month, Trump weighed in on the differences between the two men. “I would say one is a little more diplomatic than the other,” Trump said without naming them, even though diplomacy is Rubio’s job. “I think they all have very high IQs.”Trump has increasingly praised Rubio in recent weeks, with Rubio becoming more front and center due to his duties as secretary of state and national security adviser as the administration increasingly focuses on foreign policy battles with Venezuela, Iran and potentially Cuba. Trump twice called for special attention to Rubio during a ceremony at the White House on Thursday for MLS champions Inter Miami. “I’m telling you, he’s going to go down in history as the best Secretary of State in the history of the United States, Marco Rubio,” Trump said. He added: “I don’t want him to get too popular. You know, when they get too popular, you suddenly see, ‘Where’s Marco. He’s gone.'”While Rubio’s profile has risen due to his foreign policy portfolio, Vance has largely faded into the background.Rubio was in the makeshift Mar-a-Lago war room when Iran launched the attack, while Vance was in Washington, where he was pictured sitting at the end of the table where the president normally sits, drinking Mountain Dew in the situation room. A spokesman said Vance was not at Mar-a-Lago because government security protocols “maintain operational secrecy” and “restrict the president and vice president from operating remotely from the White House.”“Vance was the first member of the administration to defend the war on national television. He and second lady Usha Vance met with Trump on Saturday as the remains of fallen U.S. service members arrived at Dover Air Force Base. But since appearing on Fox News Channel on March 2, Vance has not played much of a public-facing role in the war message, and his once-aggressive social media presence has been relatively quiet.“The entire national security team, including the Vice President, has been actively reviewing actions surrounding Iran on an ongoing basis,” Vance spokesman Taylor Van Kirk said in a statement issued for this article.The war put Vance, an Iraq War veteran who has long accused the United States of being involved in chaotic foreign conflicts, in a situation that didn’t entirely align with his personal views. A person familiar with Vance’s thinking told NBC News that while Vance has taken a tougher stance on Iran and its nuclear capabilities, he has reservations about attacking the country.Trump has not chosen any candidate so far, but his past speeches do reflect that he likes both of them and that he would like either of them to lead the Republican Party.
