Trump tears apart his number two and refuses to crown him as MAGA's future

Judging by interviews President Donald Trump doesn’t sound eager to envision a world without him in charge, and he’s slow to acknowledge up-and-coming lieutenants who are eager to take the reins.

The New York Times reports that when confronted with the prospect of Vice President JD Vance as MAGA’s next crowned leader, Trump is loathe to discuss it openly — even as his own personal brand struggles to reclaim the supremacy it once held with legions of largely racist, antisemitic MAGA men.

Citing information from more than a dozen anonymous White House sources, the Times reports that Trump “has told several allies that Mr. Vance has never won a tough race without his help. (Mr. Trump’s endorsement got Mr. Vance over the finish line in a tight race for an Ohio Senate seat.) He has brought up the number of vacations Mr. Vance has taken as vice president. (Mr. Trump does not generally take them.)”

The president has also has repeatedly mentioned the vice president’s initial opposition to starting Trump’s wildly unpopular war with Iran and has even pointed this out in front of. Vance, saying “I’m more of a peace person than you are — but I had to do it,” according to the Times. And Trump has also questioned his decision to send a delegation led by the vice president to an international negotiation — which ultimately failed to end Trump’s war.

Trump, says the Times, has “zeroed in on moments when Mr. Vance might not look the part,” such as when Vance almost dropped Ohio State’s national football championship trophy on a White House lawn. And Trump has “continued to needle … Vance on matters of substance and style, from criticizing his shoes to ribbing him for his tendency to interject in conversations.” Last November, Trump even openly mulled why Vance “was not more subservient, like the officials who work for President Xi Jinping of China,” says the Times.

“Why don’t you behave like that?”. Trump asked Vance during a breakfast for Republican senators. “JD doesn’t behave like that! JD butts into conversations! I want to have that for at least a couple of days. OK, JD?”

Trump may not appear happy with the idea of a MAGA world with a hole where the aging Trump once stood. But neither, apparently, are critics eager for Vance to sidle into the encroaching Trump-shaped void as Trump hits 80 and routinely nods off at public events.

“Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, who is widely seen as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, has repeatedly accused Mr. Vance, who was born in Middletown, Ohio, of overstating his blue-collar roots and misrepresenting himself as a product of Appalachia,” reports the Times. In an interview, Beshear accused Vance of “governing in a way that only hurts the places he claims he was from.”

“JD Vance doesn’t have a real bone in his body,” said Beshear. “Last week he’s appointed the fraud czar, and this week he’s defending a new $1.7 billion slush fund for the Trump administration to give to their allies.”

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