I have serious doubts about American voters catching Marco Fever in the next 18 months

[Miles Archer]

https://www.ms.now/opinion/jd-vance-marco-rubio-2028-primary

“JD Vance sucks.” I’ve heard that sentiment from Democrats ever since Donald Trump chose the junior senator from Ohio as his running mate in 2024. And it is not surprising that Democrats still hold that judgment. What is surprising is that I now quietly hear the same sentiment coming from some MAGA and conservative circles.

To be clear, the vice president is so far ahead in polling for the GOP nomination in 2028 that the next most popular candidate, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has publicly deferred his own possible run to Vance. If you ask the MAGA base, they will tell you without hesitating that Vance will be the 2028 nominee. Many MAGA voters are more interested in whom the current vice president will pick as his vice president than in hearing from any other prospective candidates for 2028.

But the quiet talk in Washington is much different and growing louder. Even Trump is reportedly asking friends and advisers about who would be better – Vance or Rubio. That question alone is a telling admission about the president’s thoughts about his own vice president.

Just the other day Politico reported that “some of President Donald Trump’s closest confidantes increasingly see Marco Rubio as a serious 2028 contender.” Semafor subsequently published a story titled “Why it’s still JD Vance” – a headline that some people in Washington viewed as acknowledging the doubts and alarms.

[Turbineguy]

1. Rubio would be better than JD Vance and way better than trump.

[Lovie777]

2. Me too....

Most of the republicans are controlled by the ideology of RWers and their pacs, Marco Rubio is one of them, and like most of them, they do not have the courage to challenge their masters.

shithole believes in his tiny mind he’s in control, but the RWers are

[karynnj]

3. I also fail to see how either Rubio or Vance could have ANY appeal

However, a word of caution, I never saw how anyone could find Reagan, GWB, and of course, Trump remotely acceptable as President. Romney and McCain seemed more reasonable for Republicans thus more of a treat to us. As you can see my ability to predict would be way better if I gave a candidate more credit for being unacceptable or unthinkable to me!

[Miles Archer]

4. What we've seen so far regarding Republicans' "strategy"...

...is that they're running on "Come ON, folks, you CAN'T elect Democrats."

Mike Johnson pooting out nonsense about Republicans being "the adults in the room," which is why we need to keep them in power.

Rubio can't straddle the fence between the MAGAts and "Reagan Republicans."

He's got to either go all in for one extreme or another.

And yeah...he's "not Vance" and he's "not Trump" and that could very well work in his favor.

I think the only way he could gain serious traction would be to admit Trump's failures and clearly outline what he'd do to fix them, which he OBVIOUSLY CANNOT DO if he's looking for MAGAt votes.

[RoseTrellis]

5. My bet is on rubio

Smartest thing the r’s could do is run with Rubio.
There has only been two cases in history where a VP of a term limited president went on to win the election.
Honestly, with Rubio’s experience and status as a Cuban American minority he would be a much more formidable opponent to beat than JD.
I know the repugnant will do the stupid thing and nominate Vance

[dalton99a]

6. Little Marco is being kept out of the Iran clusterfuck for a reason

[dem4decades]

7. Rubio will never fill Trump's shoes.

[AZJonnie]

8. I see what you did there

[Blue Owl]

11. He'll be forever flopping in his frumpy Florshiems

[modrepub]

9. Trump Has A History

of throwing his VP's under the bus when it's convenient.

[Vinca]

10. Marco and his clown shoes really became an Internet joke. Hard to get past that.

[duckworth969]

12. MAGAS vote for a POC as prez?

Rubio is brown. And if he’s catholic, many evangelicals won’t vote for him.

White Christian Nationalists won’t vote for him either.

Will the broligarchy back him? Vance has been Peter Thiel’s boy for a long time.