A D.C. insider says JD Vance has lost his standing as a frontrunner to the MAGA throne after a series of high-stakes flubs.
The 41-year-old vice president is no longer the clear successor to President Donald Trump after he failed to land a peace deal with Iran, doomed the re-election campaign of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and suffered dismal approval ratings, Edward Luce wrote for the Financial Times on Tuesday.
Luce, the FT’s U.S. national editor and a veteran D.C. journalist, noted that Vance is “no longer Trump’s obvious successor” as the tides appear to be turning in favor of his rival for the presidency: Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Forget that America’s chief diplomat was absent from the most important bilateral talks of Trump’s presidency,” Luce said, referring to the peace talks with Iran. “The very moment Vance was announcing their collapse, Rubio was socializing with Trump at the ringside of an Ultimate Fighting Championship bout.”
“Trump loves UFC fights; the bloodier the better. Rubio has recently been getting the upper hand in his cage battle with Vance. That is a sharp reversal from how his term began,” he continued.
Trump, 79, and Rubio, 54, were living it up at a UFC match in Florida on Saturday as Vance announced that Washington and Tehran had failed to come to an agreement after negotiations in Pakistan.
A day later, Orbán declared an end to more than a decade in power and conceded defeat—after Vance flew out to Hungary to help rally votes for the far-right prime minister.
CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten said Monday that the numbers show Vance is “historically the least popular vice president at this point in their vice presidency,” with his net approval rating 18 points underwater.
“Even were Vance to regain his place in the Trumpian firmament, there is no such thing as a Vance base. His standing relies solely on Trump,” Luce said.
It’s a sharp turn from just a month ago, when Trump would reportedly quiz people in his orbit on whether Vance or Rubio would make a better successor.
“There are few signs that Trump has a plan, beyond war and domestic revenge, to halt his political slide,” Luce wrote. “Which would leave Vance, and probably Rubio, with a poisoned chalice. History shows that people who get close to Trump pay a price. Trump’s number two is unlikely to buck that record.”
Vance’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Luce spoke to Trump at the end of March, as the Iran war marked its first month.
“His thoughts are all over the place,” he said of the commander-in-chief. “My overall takeaway is that right now, Trump’s got nothing new to get him out of this war or to win it.”
