After witnessing a decade of Democrat-driven narratives and hoaxes targeting President Donald Trump, many Americans have become familiar with the pattern. It often begins with a suggestive report in the New York Times. From there, the story is echoed and amplified by other media outlets until it acquires the appearance of established fact. Before long, a substantial portion of the electorate accepts the narrative as true, regardless of how thin the underlying evidence may be.
On Saturday, the Times published an article titled “Is JD Vance the 2028 Front Runner? Trump Has Questions.” It’s lede informs readers that “President Trump appears to see the matter of his heir as unsettled, adding a layer of tension to his relationship with Vice President JD Vance.”
The authors, Katie Rogers and Tyler Pager, claim to have interviewed more than a dozen individuals “directly familiar with the dynamic between the two men.” Several of those sources spoke to the Times on the condition of anonymity.
Frankly, the article reads as though its authors started with their desired conclusion — that Trump has soured on his vice president — and then gathered evidence to support it.
Is there some truth to the story? Perhaps. But it is equally fair to ask whether we are witnessing the early stages of yet another media-driven effort to manufacture a rift between Trump and Vance where little or none actually exists. Readers can judge for themselves.
The piece begins:
In recent conversations with aides and allies, President Trump often interjects with a question about his vice president: Does JD Vance have what it takes to go all the way?He usually answers his own question: He’s not so sure.
The authors note that “Trump has long conducted running focus groups on his closest aides, and appears to enjoy needling them and keeping them off balance as a way of asserting his dominance.” They admit that he behaves much the same way with many of his closest advisers, but nevertheless argue that the dynamic is different when it comes to Vance.
It’s not because Trump treats him any more harshly than anyone else, they acknowledge, but because the political stakes surrounding the vice president are considerably higher.
According to the sources, Trump has often told members of his inner circle that Vance has never never won a tough election without his help. The sources also claimed that Trump has expressed concern about the amount of vacation time Vance has taken and has repeatedly mentioned the vice president’s initial opposition to military action against Iran.
In addition, the sources said Trump “has repeatedly brought up a moment from last spring, when Mr. Vance fumbled Ohio State’s national football championship trophy on the White House South Lawn. (Mr. Trump has said he is happy it wasn’t him.)”
“Mr. Trump has continued to needle Mr. Vance on matters of substance and style, from criticizing his shoes to ribbing him for his tendency to interject in conversations.”
The sources reported that Vance’s frequent activity on social media is yet another grievance Trump supposedly harbors against him.
In meetings, Mr. Vance frequently scrolls his phone, and he uses social media to fight with his critics. The president frequently posts to Truth Social, but he does not spend time replying to people online, as Mr. Vance does.Susie Wiles, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, recently advised Mr. Vance to take a break from social media, as have other officials in the West Wing, according to people familiar with those interactions, because the fighting was beneath his office. (Mr. Vance said he took a break for Lent.)
The article included criticism from “Republicans” Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene, influencers who lost their credibility a long time ago.
Reached for comment, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung responded with the following statement:
Vice President Vance has done a remarkable job of helping implement the president’s America First agenda. There has been no vice president in history who has been more empowered, and that is a reflection of the strong trust and relationship between the two. Any false media narratives from unknown and unnamed sources fabricating stories clearly do not have any knowledge of the truth.
Donald Trump Jr. also issued a statement:
My father always brings up how JD is a savage and annihilates the fake news, like the made-up narrative of this story. Interviews, rallies, podcasts — he shows up and performs and that’s what my father cares about.
While the Times fails to make its case that Trump is souring on his vice president, it may be true that Trump thinks Rubio would make a better president than Vance.
Rubio’s recent surge in 2028 Republican primary polls show that GOP voters might be reaching the same conclusion.
An Emerson College poll of Republican primary voters released last Thursday found Rubio and Vance essentially tied, with Vance at 36% support and Rubio close behind at 35%. The trend lines are moving sharply in opposite directions: Rubio has climbed 15 points since Emerson’s February survey, while Vance has shed 16.
An Atlas-Intel poll released on May 12 showed Rubio had catapulted past Vance to lead the Republican field with 45.4%, a stunning jump from 22.6% in December. Meanwhile, Vance’s support had dropped to 29.6%, down sharply from 46.7% in the previous survey. As Professor Jacobson noted in the post below, this is “essentially a complete flip of positions in 5 months.” He added that, “The big online ‘influencers’ and podcasters are out of touch.”
Rubio’s increasing momentum can likely be attributed to the extremely high profile he’s maintained throughout much of Trump’s second term. And his visibility has grown significantly over the past two months amid the Iran war. Clearly, Republicans like what they see.
Trump is famously attentive to polling data, and there is little question that he has noticed Rubio’s rapid ascent. Beyond the public surveys, it is also likely that Trump has access to internal polling that provides an even more detailed picture of the shifting political landscape.
If current polling trends continue, Trump could very well conclude that a Rubio-Vance ticket offers Republicans their strongest path to victory in 2028. But that would be a political calculation grounded in electoral realities, not based on speculation about Vance’s vacation plans, footwear choices, or other anecdotes the Times presents as evidence of a growing divide.
The article reads less like a sober analysis of the Trump-Vance relationship and more like an attempt to connect dots that simply are not there. After all, a perceived rift between the president and vice president would serve the interests of Trump’s opponents by creating the appearance of instability within the administration. And the Times‘ article seems designed to leave readers with precisely that impression.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn.
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