Copyright MassLive
With President Donald Trump apparently bowing to constitutional reality and ruling out running for a third term, the battle for the MAGA crown has begun. The big question: Who’s next in the line of succession? Two men: Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appear to be the GOP early favorites for the Oval Office. Suppose one of them emerges successfully from what could be a bruising 2028 nominating derby and wins the White House. In that case, U.S. voters appear to be guaranteed "a careerist who knows nothing of statesmanship," political analyst Simon Tisdall wrote for The Guardian. It’s the choice between a pit bull and a poodle, Tisdall continued. Vance, 41, is "Aggressive, noisy, nasty and occasionally jaw-droppingly ignorant‚" Tisdall offered, calling him “the bro to beat, the heir apparent and dauphin to King Don.” And he’s bolstered by huge margins in early polling in Republican primary states. "His language is vulgar, his views simplistic. When it was suggested the US’s extrajudicial killing of alleged drug smugglers could be a war crime, he wrote on X: ‘I don’t give a s**t what you call it,’” Tisdall wrote. Rubio, 54, of Florida, is “altogether quieter,” compared to the blustery Ohio Republican. The former U.S. senator is a "strangely passive figure and possibly the most ineffectual secretary of state of recent times," according to Tisdall. “While Trump runs the show and hogs the limelight on Israel, Ukraine and China, Rubio acts as prop, cheerleader and repairman. His job: to make sense of Trump’s ill-considered, hyped-up deals – an impossible task at which he fails daily. His dangerous tardiness in implementing security elements of the Gaza “peace plan” is a case in point," Tisdall observed. Trump, forever a fan of reality-TV style politics, is likely relishing a bruising contest. That is, if he doesn’t put his previous musings aside and try to run for a third term (Note: The “VP Plan.”). “Trump has repeatedly flirted with the idea of serving beyond the constitutionally mandated two terms, joking about it at rallies and teasing supporters with ‘Trump 2028′ hats," Reuters reported late last month. “Some allies have taken those signals seriously, suggesting that they are exploring legal or political pathways to make it happen — a possibility dismissed by most constitutional scholars."
