It is something of an unwritten rule in American politics that a sitting president grooms his vice president as the heir apparent, which makes what Donald Trump said about JD Vance on Tuesday all the more striking.
With Vance standing just behind him in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump was asked whether he would endorse his vice president as his successor, but his response offered little reassurance about where the two stand on the question.
“We’ve never talked about it,” Trump told the reporter, seemingly dismissing the idea that he and Vance had discussed a possible 2028 endorsement. According to La Opinión, Vance responded with a nervous smile as he stood behind the president.
Vance’s reaction here 👀
— Jon Michael Raasch (@JMRaasch) October 21, 2026
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
Trump did not rule Vance out, and he praised him before saying, “we have to get through the midterms. We’ll see how it goes.” Those elections are set for November 3. The exchange came a day after Vance had discussed 2028 in an interview with Mark Halperin.
Vance has been confident in public about his standing.
In a June interview with CBS News, he said he expected Trump to be “very supportive of anything that I ultimately decide to do.”
It is also not the first time Trump has sounded cool about the question. In a Fox News interview in February 2025, Bret Baier asked whether Vance was his successor, and Trump replied, “No, but he’s very capable.” Vance said afterward that Trump had said “exactly what he should have said.”
It’s pretty awesome how dancing makes robots less intimidating. Looking forward to seeing more nontrivial Machine Learning on these robots. Credit: Boston Dynamics. pic.twitter.com/wnB2i9qhdQ
— Reza Zadeh (@Reza_Zadeh) December 29, 2020
The answers have moved around since.
In August 2025, Trump told reporters Vance was the heir apparent “most likely,” according to Reuters. The Washington Post later reported that Trump told donors in a private Oval Office meeting, “At the end of the day, we need to elect JD.” Trump, asked about that report, did not confirm it.
Vance’s own line, when this came up in 2025, was that his focus is “the American people’s business.” That may still be the safest answer, since the president has now given the same question three different answers over two years.
Featured image via X screengrab
