Working Hard For a Nomination Which is Trump's to Lose

No one can know for sure what motivates the twisted mind of J.D. Vance. But the legendary pitcher Satchel Paige offered a clue: "Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."

Eager as usual to stir the pot, President Trump, as he spoke to reporters on Air Force One, implied that either Vice President Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio could succeed him. He teased "I'm not sure if anybody would run against those two. I think if they formed a group it would be unstoppable."

If he is still alive in the summer of 2028, Trump either will be the presidential nominee or the vice presidential nominee with the understanding that if elected, the other guy would resign after the inauguration in 2029. Still, Vance is not taking any chances and referred to Rubio as his "best friend in the administration."

And why not?

During the last presidential campaign, Vance responded to concern about the impact of illegal immigrants (or asylum seekers) on Springfield, Ohio by tweeting/Xing "reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who should not be in this country."  After - not before- five or six or 33 bomb threats and claim debunked, Vance was interviewed by CNN;s Dana Bash and rationalized

The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do.

Proud to be a liar, Vance settled into this modus operandi. Vance made up the story about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, then boasted about having made it up, and now is repeating the myth. Wash, rinse, repeat.

On the October 29, 2025 edition of Pod Force One with the New York Post's Miranda Devine:

A disgusting human being. https://t.co/K8aqbGXqgj

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) October 30, 2025

Disgusting, for sure. However, the Vice President hears footsteps. No doubt he took on the role of running mate to the presidential nominee, as most offered the position do, in order to be positioned to be heir apparent to the President if the ticket is victorious. And now, Trump mentions Marco Rubio and Vance in the same breath, even though the vice-president is clearly more MAGA than the neocon Rubio.

Vance has the inside track on the Secretary of State for a few reasons, including what seems to be an effective effort to shore up his Christian bona fides. Moreover, Trump may recall that President Obama supported Secretary of State Clinton over Vice President Biden for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, and Clinton went on to lose to Trump. Four years later, Biden defeated Trump, though the circumstances of both elections were far different than they have been since. (It's also likely that Biden would have lost to Trump in 2016 and Clinton would have beaten him in 2020. So it's a weak precedent, but precedent.)

On an unrelated matter, suitable for Mischief Night: it was exactly three years ago that our twice-elected President typed

                    

And that makes it three years to the day that the far and away most consequential public figure of any sort of our time called his, and our, country "evil."  At some time, in some faraway land, a Democrat may notice.

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