Could Marco Rubio leave Trump’s administration to run for president in 2028?
Secretary of State Marco Rubio might soon quit the Trump administration to launch a bid for the presidency in 2028, especially after the party’s rout in the midterms on Tuesday, according to a new report.
British outlet The Independent cited insiders in the U.S. and the UK who have increasing expectations for Rubio to leave the government, with one saying he needs to “distance himself from the Iran war and pin that one on Trump.”
“It makes complete sense for him to step down and leave the administration,” the source added, claiming that Rubio is the “leading candidate at the moment” and ahead of Vice President JD Vance.
Vice President JD Vance has already come out to distance himself from the administration’s most consequential decision in influencing the midterm results: the Iran war.
In a lengthy social media publication on Wednesday, Vance said an “honest conversation” needs to be had about the matter. He then analyzed the election, saying that many Republicans who turned out to vote instead chose Democrats to punish their party for ignoring their concerns.
He went on to concede the argument from a pollster who told him the administration’s economic message “wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch,” but the “real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.”
“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night. If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there,” Vance added.
The historic result means that ideological and strategic divisions about what the future of the GOP should look like are coming to the fore.
The key group questioning the Trump line is the so-called “America First” faction. Although Trump himself has often characterized his movement as “America First”, some figures within the conservative movement have said that Trump’s close alliance with Israel and his foreign military adventurism demonstrate that he has deviated from the focus on domestic issues which they see as foundational to “America First” conservatism.
Former Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is one such figure. Greene, who was once a Trump loyalist, very publicly broke with the president over her support for the release of the Epstein files, her criticism of U.S. military adventures abroad in Venezuela and Iran as well as what she perceived as Trump’s disregard for domestic pressures, such as the rising cost of living.
It is unclear how these divisions will play out on the presidential stage in 2028, but some speculate that an “America First” candidate who shares much of Trump’s policy platform on social issues but advocates for a far more isolationist foreign policy could emerge as a frontrunner for the GOP nomination.
