President Donald Trump refused to anoint Vice President J.D. Vance as his successor and preferred choice for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination.
Trump, who is in the early weeks of his second and final White House term, was asked during a Fox News Super Bowl Sunday interview whether he viewed Vance as his successor.
"No, but he's very capable," Trump said. "I think you have a lot of very capable people. So far, I think he's doing a fantastic job. It's too early. We're just starting."
Told Vance "is going to be looking for an endorsement" after the 2026 midterms, the president deflected the topic.
"A lot of people have said that this has been the greatest opening — almost three weeks — in the history of the presidency," Trump said.
The response concerning Vance could indicate the president's hesitance to recognize his term will end in January 2029, or his desire to focus on the present. Plus, despite pundits' assumptions, Vance has not indicated whether he plans to run for the White House in 2028.
An all-time high percentage of Americans say they approve of the job Trump is doing less than three weeks into his second term, according to a new CBS News/YouGov survey.
Vance, 40, is the third-youngest vice president in U.S. history and was selected by Trump as his running mate in July at the urging of first son Donald Trump Jr., the New York Post reported.
Vance stepped onto the world stage this week for the first time as vice president, using a high-stakes AI summit in Paris and a security conference in Munich to amplify Trump's aggressive new approach to diplomacy.
The vice president, who was just 18 months into his tenure as a senator before joining Trump's ticket, is expected, while in Paris, to push back on European efforts to tighten AI oversight while advocating for a more open, innovation-driven approach.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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