Vice President JD Vance stopped short of declaring that he would run for president in 2028, but did say that if he does his job properly, “the politics will figure itself out.”
During an appearance on “My View” with Lara Trump on Saturday night, Vance — who won over the country with his strength in the face of personal and financial problems growing up — said he “doesn’t like thinking about” running for president and stressed that his focus is now on his current job.
“If we do a good job in 2025 and 2026, then we can talk about the politics in 2027,” Vance said. “I really think the American people are so fed up with folks who are already running for the next job, seven months into the current one.”
The second-in-command said that if he does run, he knows he will have to work for it.
“There are a lot of great people. If I do end up running, it’s not going to be given to me—either on the Republican side or on the national side. I’m just going to keep on working hard.… [This] may be the most important job I ever had, outside of being a father to those three beautiful kids. So I’m going to try to do my best job, and I think if I do that, the politics will figure itself out,” Vance said.
When asked specifically about potential 2028 Democratic candidates, he noted most of them “obviously have very bad records.”
Vance mostly talked on his own ticket, praising President Donald Trump’s hard work and trusted leadership style and saying that the president “doesn’t have an off switch.”
“Sometimes, the president will call you at 12:30 or 2 a.m., and then call you at 6 a.m. about a totally different topic,” Vance said. “It’s like, ‘Mr. president, did you go to sleep last night.’… What’s made this so much fun is the president, all the time, just saying, ‘JD you go and do this,’ or ‘JD you go and talk to these leaders about this particular issue.’ That ability to delegate and trust his people has been really amazing.”
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Vance made headlines last week when he said President Trump is in “incredibly good health” but stressed he is prepared to assume leadership if necessary.
In an interview with USA Today published Friday, Vance was asked about Trump’s age; the president began his second term at 78 and turned 79 in June.
“The president is in incredibly good health,” Vance told the outlet. “He’s got incredible energy. He’s the last person making phone calls at night, and he’s the first person who wakes up, and the first person making phone calls in the morning.”
The vice president was asked, given that he’s “one heartbeat away from the presidency” and would be one of the youngest in U.S. history should he need to fulfill the role soon, if he was ready to be commander-in-chief.
“Yes, things can always happen. Yes, terrible tragedies happen,” Vance responded. “But I feel very confident the president of the United States is in good shape, is going to serve out the remainder of his term, and do great things for the American people.”
“And if, God forbid, there’s a terrible tragedy, I can’t think of better on-the-job training than what I’ve gotten over the last 200 days,” he added.
The White House released a memo last month from Sean Barbabella, the physician to the president, addressing mild swelling in his legs and photos that circulated showing bruising on Trump’s hand.
Barbabella said tests revealed Trump had “chronic venous insufficiency, a benign and common condition among people over 70.”
Regarding the bruising, Barbabella said it was “consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin,” a standard part of his cardiovascular prevention regimen.
