After months of floating the idea of seeking a third term, President Donald Trump has remarked upon what the 2028 presidential ticket might look like.
Speaking during an event at the White House, Trump discussed the future race and wondered aloud who could be on the Republican ticket.
“Who’s it going to be? Is it gonna be J.D. [Vance]? Is it gonna be somebody else? I don’t know,” he said Monday.
Trump then proceeded to pit Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio against one another, asking the crowd to show their support for who they liked.
“Who likes J.D. Vance?” he queried, smiling as attendees applauded.“Who likes Marco Rubio?” he continued, adding that the names together “sound like a good ticket.”
“By the way, I do believe that’s a dream team, but these are minor details,” the President said, notably stopping short of endorsing either member of his Administration.
“That does not mean you have my endorsement under any circumstance,” he emphasized, adding that he thinks it “sounds like a presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate.”
The President has thus far avoided officially endorsing anyone to succeed him after he completes his second term, but he has floated both Vance and Rubio’s names before.
Last August, when asked if Vance was MAGA’s heir-apparent, Trump said: “Well, I think most likely. In all fairness, he’s the Vice President.”
But he again stopped short of any official endorsement, adding that Rubio was “somebody that maybe would get together with J.D., in some form.”
According to reports, Trump has previously polled the possibility of Vance and Rubio appearing together on a 2028 Republican ticket during private dinners and meetings with guests at the White House.
Trump himself has repeatedly teased the idea of seeking a third term, despite the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution only allowing Presidents to serve two terms in office.
When asked about the possibility of a third term, Trump told TIME in April last year: “I’d rather not discuss that now, but as you know, there are some loopholes that have been discussed that are well known. But I don’t believe in loopholes. I don’t believe in using loopholes.”
His remarks gained further traction when the Trump Store started selling “Trump 2028” merchandise.
He later went a step further, telling a crowd that “we actually already served three,” repeating his false claims that the 2020 election—won by President Joe Biden—was stolen.
In the present day, despite declining approval ratings, Trump continues to wield significant influence within the Republican Party, underscored by his recent endorsements in the Indiana state Senate races, where several Trump-backed candidates won contests.
Furthermore, both Vance and Rubio have recently been tested by high-profile diplomatic assignments.
Vance traveled to Hungary in April to support long-time Trump ally Viktor Orbán ahead of the Hungarian election.
“Victor Orban is going to win the next election in Hungary,” Vance told reporters.
Orbán ultimately lost to opposition leader Péter Magyar in a landslide defeat that ended his 16-year rule.
Vance was also dispatched to Pakistan to lead the U.S. delegations in peace talks intended to clear a path to end the Iran war.But he returned to the U.S. without a deal and a second round of in-person talks have yet to take place.
Rubio, meanwhile, has also taken on an increasingly visible role in the Administration.
Last week, he stepped in for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt during a briefing and later released, what some viewed to be, a campaign-style video built around one of his answers.
Rubio, who is also Trump’s National Security Adviser, traveled to the Vatican last week to meet Pope Leo in an effort to ease tensions after Trump’s repeated verbal attacks on the Pontiff over his opposition to the Iran war.
The Secretary of State additionally met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, another longtime Trump ally whose relationship with the Administration has become strained over the conflict in Iran.
Steve Millies, a professor of Public Theology at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, previously told TIME that these diplomatic missions presented a political opportunity for the Secretary of State.
“J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio seem to be front runners [for the Republican presidential nomination], and so Rubio’s performance on this trip is something to watch closely,” he said ahead of the visit. “It’s important, from Rubio’s point of view, to note the contrast with how Vance pedantically lectured the Pope about theology.”
Rubio previously launched a presidential campaign for the 2016 race before suspending it after losing the Republican primary to Trump. He later returned to the Senate before joining Trump’s second Administration.
Vance was serving his first term as a Senator from Ohio when Trump selected him as his running mate.
Rubio told Vanity Fair in December last year that he would support Vance if the Vice President sought the presidential ticket.
“If J.D. Vance runs for President, he’s going to be our nominee, and I’ll be one of the first people to support him,” he said.
According to a poll conducted at the end of April, Vance was the favourite to lead the presidential Republican ticket garnering 48% of support among Republicans compared to only 16% for Rubio.
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