{"id":111251,"date":"2025-12-28T14:22:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T14:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/111251\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T14:22:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T14:22:08","slug":"gop-coalescing-behind-vance-as-trump-privately-dismisses-third-term-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/111251\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP coalescing behind Vance as Trump privately dismisses third-term run"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0When Charlie Kirk was killed by an assassin this fall, Republican leaders credited the organization he founded<\/a> for enabling President Trump\u2019s return to power.<\/p>\n

Now that organization is mobilizing behind Vice President JD Vance.<\/p>\n

Uninterested in a competitive Republican primary in 2028, Turning Point USA plans to deploy representatives across Iowa\u2019s 99 counties in the coming months to build the campaign infrastructure it believes could deliver Vance, a Midwesterner from nearby Ohio, a decisive victory, potentially short-circuiting a fractious GOP race, insiders said.<\/p>\n

It is the latest move in a quiet effort by some in Trump\u2019s orbit to clear the field of viable competitors. Earlier this month, Marco Rubio, the secretary of State previously floated by Trump as a possible contender, appeared to take himself out of the running.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Vance runs for president, he\u2019s going to be our nominee, and I\u2019ll be one of the first people to support him,\u201d Rubio told Vanity Fair.<\/p>\n

After Kirk\u2019s widow, Erika, endorsed Vance on stage<\/a> at Turning Point USA\u2019s annual conference in Arizona last week, a straw poll of attendees found that 84% would support Vance in the coming primaries. Yet, wider public polling offers a different picture.<\/p>\n

A CNN poll conducted in early December found that Vance held a plurality of Republican support for 2028, at 22%, with all other potential candidates, such as Rubio and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, registering in single digits.<\/p>\n

The remaining 64% told pollsters they had \u201cno one specific in mind,\u201d reflecting an open field with plenty of room for other figures to gain ground.<\/p>\n

While a recent Gallup poll found that 91% of Republicans approve of Vance\u2019s job performance as vice president \u2014 an encouraging number entering a partisan primary \u2014 only 39% of Americans across party lines view him positively in the role, setting Vance up for potential challenges should he win the nomination.<\/p>\n

Potential presidential candidates on both sides of the political aisle are expected to assess their chances over the next year, before primary season officially kicks off, after the midterm elections in November.<\/p>\n

Closing out the Turning Point USA conference, Vance called for party unity amid escalating conflicts among right-wing influencers over the acceptability of racism and antisemitism<\/a> within Republican politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless, self-defeating purity tests,\u201d Vance said. \u201cEvery American is invited. We don\u2019t care if you\u2019re white or Black, rich or poor, young or old, rural or urban, controversial or a little bit boring, or somewhere in between.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlie Kirk, he added, \u201ctrusted all of you to make your own judgment. And we have far more important work to do than canceling each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance\u2019s remarks drew criticism from some on the right for appearing to tolerate bigotry within the party. The vice president himself has been subjected to racist rhetoric, with Nick Fuentes \u2014 a far-right podcaster who has praised Adolf Hitler \u2014 repeatedly directing attacks at Vance\u2019s wife and children over their Indian ancestry.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me be clear \u2014 anyone who attacks my wife, whether their name is Jen Psaki or Nick Fuentes, can eat s\u2014,\u201d Vance said in an interview<\/a> last week, referring to President Biden\u2019s former press secretary. \u201cThat\u2019s my official policy as vice president of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the same interview, Vance praised Tucker Carlson, another far-right podcaster who has defended Fuentes on free speech grounds, as a \u201cfriend of mine,\u201d noting that he supported Vance as Trump\u2019s vice presidential pick in 2024.<\/p>\n

Trump has floated Vance as his potential successor multiple times without ever explicitly endorsing his nomination, calling him \u201cvery capable\u201d and the \u201cmost likely\u201d choice for the party.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the vice president,\u201d Trump said in August. \u201cCertainly he\u2019s doing a great job, and he would be probably favored at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several of Trump\u2019s most ardent supporters have pushed the president to seek a third term in 2028, despite a provision of the Constitution, in the 22nd Amendment, barring him from doing so. <\/p>\n

Trump himself has said the Constitution appears clear on the matter. But Steve Bannon, an architect of Trump\u2019s historic 2016 campaign and one of his first White House strategists, continues to advocate a path forward for another run, reportedly disparaging Vance as \u201cnot tough enough\u201d to lead the party to victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knows he can\u2019t run again,\u201d Susie Wiles, the president\u2019s White House chief of staff, told Vanity Fair in a recent profile of her. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty unequivocal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, who will be 82 when he is slated to leave office, has told Wiles he understands a third term isn\u2019t possible \u201ca couple times,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Alan Dershowitz, a prominent constitutional law professor and a lawyer to Trump during his Senate impeachment trial, recently presented Trump with a road map to a third term in an Oval Office meeting, which he will publish in a new book slated for release next year.<\/p>\n

Even he came away from their meeting believing Trump would pass on another bid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is my conclusion based on what he has said in public,\u201d Dershowitz told The Times. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe has said in the past,\u201d he added, \u201cthat it\u2019s too cute.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0When Charlie Kirk was killed by an assassin this fall, Republican leaders credited the organization he founded for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[20391,6308,59604,48,52,51,47,50,49,46488,3906,28501,59603,29975,6283,59602,59601,1519,30724,28768,47437],"class_list":{"0":"post-111251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-charlie-kirk","9":"tag-field","10":"tag-gop-coalescing","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-headlines","13":"tag-la-news","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","16":"tag-los-angeles-news","17":"tag-marco-rubio","18":"tag-month","19":"tag-nick-fuentes","20":"tag-other-potential-candidate","21":"tag-party-line","22":"tag-president","23":"tag-republican-politic","24":"tag-third-term","25":"tag-trump","26":"tag-turning-point-usa","27":"tag-vance","28":"tag-vanity-fair"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}