"Donald Trump loves to pit his advisers and staffers against one another-many aspects of Trump's persona on The Apprentice may have been manufactured, but not this one. Lately, The New York Timesnoted this weekend, this has played out as Trump informally polling friends and advisers on who would be a better Republican presidential nominee in the next election: J. D. Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio."
"For a long time, the front-runner seemed to have been decided within the administration. "If J. D. Vance runs for president, he's going to be our nominee, and I'll be one of the first people to support him," Rubio told Vanity Fairlast year. Prominent outside activists such as Erika Kirk have also thrown their lot in with Vance."
"Now Rubio appears to be gaining some momentum. The secretary of state (who is also Trump's national security adviser) is suddenly everywhere, whether ringside with Trump at UFC fights, deskside in the pope's Vatican office, or perched behind the lectern in the White House briefing room. As my colleague Matt Viser wrote last week, Rubio-who often seemed glum early in the administration-now looks to be having the time of his life."
"This does not seem like an obvious moment for everything to be coming up Marco. Rubio is the president's top adviser on both national security and diplomacy at a moment when the United States has blundered into an unpopular war that appears to be a strategic catastrophe. The U.S. government can't or won't define its goals and has no path to achieving them even if it does; in the meantim"
Trump has a pattern of setting advisers and staffers against one another, and informal polling among friends and advisers has focused on whether J. D. Vance or Marco Rubio would be the better Republican presidential nominee for the next election. For a time, Vance seemed favored inside the administration, with Rubio previously indicating he would support Vance if Vance ran. Outside activists have also aligned with Vance. Rubio now appears to be gaining momentum, showing up frequently in high-profile settings and benefiting from renewed interest among MAGA voters in focus groups. This shift is notable because Rubio holds major national security and diplomacy responsibilities during a period of unpopular conflict and unclear strategy.
Read at The Atlantic
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