Trump isn’t dissuading Republicans from challenging Vance or Rubio in 2028

President Donald Trump is letting Republican candidates jockey for 2028 presidential primary position, as Monday marked the second time in as many weeks he declined to clear the 2028 primary field for Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio, his stated preferences for the 2028 general election.Since last year, Trump has stated that he would love to see a Vance-Rubio, or even a Rubio-Vance, ticket, claiming that the pair would be unbeatable for any Democratic nominee.But on Monday, he dodged a question from the Washington Examiner about whether he could see himself supporting War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has begun telling allies he’s considering a bid for the White House, according to NBC News. “I think he’s doing a fantastic job, but it’s very early to talk about that. We have to get through the midterms first,” the president responded. “I’ll bet there’s a lot of people considering it that you don’t know about. You probably have a lot of people.”“He’s done a great job, and right now, all he loves is, and all he cares about, is the military and taking care of the military,” he continued. “We went into Venezuela, we won. We went into Iran, and we’re beating the hell out of them, and doing a good job.”The president did not acknowledge a follow-up question about a potential White House run from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).Trump’s decision to leave the door open for Hegseth comes just days after doing the same for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a former Trump enemy who’s very openly previewing his own 2028 candidacy.“I would say that he’s very talented. He’s a very good friend of mine. I think he might do that,” the president said of Cruz’s hints at entering the race to be Trump’s successor. “He’s a very talented guy.”Despite Trump’s past comments about a Vance-Rubio ticket, he has stopped short of offering an endorsement. Earlier in August, like he again did on Monday, Trump told reporters that it’s “way too early to even be thinking about” an endorsement.One former senior Trump White House official told the Washington Examiner that the president “deep down” loves the rumor mill about 2028.“It’s like The Apprentice in real time,” that person joked. “But seriously, one, it definitely is too early, but, two, all the media speculation forces these guys to jockey for position, both publicly and in private. Trump doesn’t like betting on losers, so whoever he eventually picks is going to have to earn it. I do think he wants it to be JD, but he isn’t going to just hand it to him if someone else is getting hot at the right time.”TRUMP TELLS SENATE TO CONFIRM HIS FDA NOMINEE BEFORE MIDTERM ELECTIONSA number of Trumpworld insiders have previously told the Washington Examiner that an endorsement for Vance or Rubio isn’t “set in stone.”“That’s DJT. He will say ‘it’s JD’ and then he’ll say to someone, ‘Who do you like between Marco and JD?’ It’s just how DJT is,” a Republican strategist close to the administration explained. “He’s been saying this s*** to donors and others that it’s going to be JD for a while, but with DJT nothing’s ever for sure until he makes a public endorsement.”