Donald Trump might still have three months remaining in his term as president, but talk is already beginning about how the 2028 primaries might shake out, on both sides of the aisle.
Vice President J.D. Vance is expected to try to succeed Trump as a Republican president, and in recent days, he’s been endorsed by Erika Kirk, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio also declared that he will support Vance if he runs for president.
Rubio ran for president against Trump in 2016, and later went from Trump enemy to Trump friend. Another man who went on a similar journey, Sen. Ted Cruz, hasn’t taken the same step.
After rising to prominence as a rebel against the establishment, Sen. Ted Cruz is now a vocal champion of some longtime orthodox GOP positions, as a new generation of conservatives is ascending with a different vision. https://t.co/TEJH14MW0u
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 22, 2025
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According to the Washington Post, Cruz has been talking about running for president himself in 2028- and has been trashing Vance behind the scenes.
The Post story begins with a Cruz meeting with Morton Klein, head of the Zionist Organization of America, who decried rising “Jew hatred and Israel bashing” on the right.
Cruz has, of late, “positioned himself as a loud voice for a more traditional, hawkish Republican foreign policy,” the Post story said. This has put him opposite of the likes of Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes, who are pushing things in a different direction, including one of unabashed antisemitism.
“As he feuds with Carlson, Cruz is weighing a second presidential bid, according to a person close to the senator and another briefed on his thinking, who spoke like others on the condition of anonymity to disclose internal conversations,” the Post said.
And this has included shots at Vance.
“Cruz has criticized Vance, a close ally of Carlson, to Republican donors, according to two people familiar with the comments. The senator has warned that Vance’s foreign policy views are dangerously isolationist, the people said.”
Cruz and Vance served together as U.S. senators, but only for a short time, as Vance was only a senator for two years before he became vice president.
“After rising to prominence as a rebel against the establishment, Cruz is now a vocal champion of some longtime orthodox GOP positions, as a new generation of conservatives is ascending with a different vision,” the Post said.
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
