President Donald Trump is only about 150 days into his second term, but that isn’t stopping some from speculating who could succeed him.
Among those offering predictions is Meghan McCain. She took to social media on Sunday to say that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are all in prime position to win the White House in 2028.
McCain shared her take by posting a video of the three men standing behind the president during his address to the nation on Saturday, shortly after he revealed that the United States had struck three of Iran’s nuclear sites.
“The three men standing behind Trump are all the top 3 contenders to be President next,” she posted on X.
Among Hegseth, Vance, and Rubio, the defense secretary has the least political experience, only just entering his role in the Trump administration in January. Prior to this, Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry officer in the U.S. National Guard in 2003, and later became known as a Fox News co-host.
McCain’s preview of a potential Hegseth run in 2028 was met with disagreement on X, with several users agreeing with her assessment on Vance and Rubio but not on the defense secretary.
“Hegseth is a joke. The other two, yes they’re legit candidates. I think Rubio has a better shot than Vance,” one user said in response to McCain’s post.
“Vance/Rubio would be an amazing ticket, As an ex-Dem, I’d vote for that!” another X user replied.
“Hegseth is not a contender to be president. But Vance and Rubio are currently the top contenders,” a third user said.
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Vance was asked last month about any possible ambitions he has for the Oval Office in 2028, to which he said he sees himself doing “a really good job for the next 1,100 days” as vice president, and the public can “figure it out from there.” He also denied any rivalry between him and Rubio, saying that the state secretary is “probably my best friend in the administration.”
Trump also floated Vance and Rubio as potential successors in a recent interview, but added it was “too early” to think about that.
“I think we have a tremendous group of people. We talked about a number of them,” Trump told NBC News’s Meet the Press in May. “You look at Marco, you look at JD Vance, who’s fantastic … I could name 10, 15, 20 people right now, just sitting here.”
On the Democratic Party’s side, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) previewed that his party will undergo a “progressive takeover” in the future. The lawmaker also claimed that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has run twice in the Democratic Party’s presidential primaries, would be president in 2028 if the Vermont lawmaker was “10 years younger.”