Trump has his eye on the future of the Republican Party.
During a recent interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker about who might succeed him atop the party’s 2028 ticket on Sunday’s edition of Meet the Press President Trump didn’t shy away from naming two potential candidates.
After observing that Trump had “built a political movement that has transformed the Republican Party,” Welker asked, “When you look to the future, Mr. President, do you think the MAGA movement can survive without you as its leader?”
“Yes, I do. I think it’s so strong, and I think we have tremendous people. I think that we have a tremendous group of people. We talked about a number of them. You look at Marco [Rubio], you look at JD Vance, who’s fantastic,” replied Trump, who continued:
You look at-, I could name 10, 15, 20 people right now just sitting here. No, I think they have a tremendous party. And you know what I can’t name? I can name one Democrat. I mean, I look at the Democrats, they’re in total disarray. They have a new person named [Jasmine] Crockett. I watched her speak the other day, she’s definitely a low IQ person, and they said she’s the future of the party. I said, you have to be kidding. I don’t know what they’re going to do. And I really believe in a two-party system. Because it’s good to be challenged, it’s really good to have a two party, you know it’s good, being challenged is okay. It keeps you sharp. I don’t know what they’re gonna do. They have nobody. Bernie’s 87-years-old or something. And you know, [Joe] Biden is the worst thing that ever happened to old people because he was grossly incompetent. And I think maybe for artificial reasons, you know, he had operations and things. So maybe that’s an artificial. But I know people that are unbelievably sharp and they’re older than 87. But I watched Bernie Sanders, he’s a nut job, but he’s still sharp. He’s sharp, he’s the same guy he was. He hasn’t gone down, but Biden is really-, e’s the worst thing to happen to old people.
“I know that you are only 100 days in, but as we sit here today, who do you see as your successor, Mr. President?” followed up Welker.
“Well, it’s far too early to say that, but, you know, I do have a vice president and typically it would be and JD’s doing a fantastic job, but-” answered Trump before Welker interjected to ask “He would be at the top of the list?”
“It could very well be,” mused Trump. “I don’t want to get involved in that. I think he’s a fantastic, brilliant guy. Marco is great. There’s a lot of them that are great. I also see tremendous unity, but certainly you would say that somebody’s the VP, if that person is outstanding, I guess that person would have an advantage. But I think the other people would all stay in unbelievably high positions. But, you know, it could be that he’d be challenged by somebody. We have a lot of good people in this party.”
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has also been widely floated as a potential Democratic candidate for president.
Ocasio-Cortez has recently dodged questions about the possibility, stressing a focus on the current political moment, but anticipation is building as she tours the country alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), revving up her base and reaching out to voters across the country.
“It would not be out of the realm of possibility that she would want to be a presidential candidate. She’s very ambitious. She’s very smart. She has an uncanny ability to raise money. She understands social media. She’s incredibly popular with younger voters, and she’s got the right issues,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic strategist based in the Empire State.
“It’s a question of timing. When is best? When is the most opportune time for her to take advantage of all that?”
