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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) suggested on Sunday he would not back Vice President Vance as a hypothetical candidate for president in 2028.
In an interview on ABC News’s “This Week,” Paul cited his opposition to the Trump administration’s tariff and trade policy when asked whether he sees Vance as the so-called heir apparent to succeed President Trump as the GOP front-runner for president in 2028.
“I think there needs to be representatives in the Republican Party who still believe international trade is good, who still believe in free market capitalism, who still believe in low taxes,” Paul said, when asked about some Republicans pointing to Vance as a likely candidate next election.
Paul lamented the decline in the number of GOP politicians embracing traditional conservative values and vowed to try to bring it back. While many Republicans still say they support lower taxes and smaller government, few other than Paul have been willing to publicly criticize the president over his sweeping tariffs or oppose his signature domestic policy legislation, which Paul voted against because it added to the country’s debt.
“It used to separate conservatives and liberals that conservatives thought it was a spending problem — we didn’t want less revenue, we wanted less spending,” Paul said.
“But now all these pro-tariff protectionists, they love taxes. And so they tax, tax, tax, and then they brag about all the revenue coming in,” Paul continued. “That has never been a conservative position.”
“So I’m going to continue to try to lead a conservative free-market wing in the party, and we’ll see where things lead over time,” Paul added.
Top Republicans Refuses to Endorse JD Vance for 2028 Run
FAT CHANCE, VANCE
Rumblings from the GOP’s upper ranks suggest the vice president’s ascendance to the MAGA throne may not be so assured.
Published Dec. 21 2025 1:08PM EST
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Two top-ranking Republican officials have refused to throw their backing behind JD Vance as a prospective heir to the MAGA throne.
In separate interviews Sunday, Senators Rand Paul and Lindsey Graham both declined to say they’d be supporting the vice president as a prospective GOP pick for the 2028 election.
“I think there needs to be representatives in the GOP who still believe international trade is good, who still believe in free market capitalism, who still believe in low taxes,” Paul, a hardline libertarian, told ABC News, adding “no” when asked if he thought Vance fit that particular bill.
Lindsey, meanwhile, side-stepped the question entirely when asked on NBC if he would join slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk in endorsing Vance. “I’m worried about tomorrow, but that’s a big day for JD,” he somewhat cryptically told the network, quickly pivoting to praise President Donald Trump’s escalation of tensions with Venezuela.
Paul and Graham’s skepticism of Vance comes after the vice president received ringing endorsements earlier this week from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Erika Kirk.
Rubio’s endorsement was notable for following a reported internal battle between himself and Vance for support for a prospective White House run among powerbrokers within GOP ranks.
Rubio has since reportedly told confidants that Vance is the frontrunner for the 2028 Republican nomination and that he’d support the vice president if he chose to run.
Rubio and Kirk’s endorsement nevertheless comes against the wider backdrop of Trump himself refusing to rule out a Constitution-defying run for a third stint in the White House.
“I would love to do it,” the MAGA leader told reporters earlier in October. “I have my best numbers ever.”
Latest polls put Trump’s approval rating at 36 percent. Not quite his worst ever, but only two points above his all-time low of 34 percent in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 riots.
Erika Kirk Jokes About Vance Hug at Murdered Husband’s EventMOURNING IN AMERICA
The president might remain coy about his ambitions, but his allies have struck a more sincere note when it comes to prospects of overturning roughly 250 years of Constitutional history.
“Trump is going to be president in ‘28, and people ought to just get accommodated with that,” former MAGA strategist Steve Bannon told The Economist earlier in October. “At the appropriate time, we’ll lay out what the plan is.”
Rand Paul signals he would not back Vance for president in 2028
Sarah Fortinsky
Mon, December 22, 2025 at 3:38 AM GMT+7
0
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) suggested on Sunday he would not back Vice President Vance as a hypothetical candidate for president in 2028.
In an interview on ABC News’s “This Week,” Paul cited his opposition to the Trump administration’s tariff and trade policy when asked whether he sees Vance as the so-called heir apparent to succeed President Trump as the GOP front-runner for president in 2028.
“I think there needs to be representatives in the Republican Party who still believe international trade is good, who still believe in free market capitalism, who still believe in low taxes,” Paul said, when asked about some Republicans pointing to Vance as a likely candidate next election.
Paul lamented the decline in the number of GOP politicians embracing traditional conservative values and vowed to try to bring it back. While many Republicans still say they support lower taxes and smaller government, few other than Paul have been willing to publicly criticize the president over his sweeping tariffs or oppose his signature domestic policy legislation, which Paul voted against because it added to the country’s debt.
“It used to separate conservatives and liberals that conservatives thought it was a spending problem — we didn’t want less revenue, we wanted less spending,” Paul said.
“But now all these pro-tariff protectionists, they love taxes. And so they tax, tax, tax, and then they brag about all the revenue coming in,” Paul continued. “That has never been a conservative position.”
“So I’m going to continue to try to lead a conservative free-market wing in the party, and we’ll see where things lead over time,” Paul added.
ABC News’s Jonathan Karl followed up: “And that’s not JD Vance?”
“No,” Paul responded.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Tim Walz Accuses J.D. Vance of ‘No Longer Hiding’ the Idea of ‘White Supremacy’ After Veep’s Controversial Comments at TPUSA Event
Daniel Gura
Thu, December 25, 2025 at 6:07 AM GMT+7
21
Tim Walz has fired back at JD Vance after the vice president told the crowd at the recent Turning Point USA rally, “you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore,” RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The former veep candidate accused Vance and his boss, President Trump, of blatant “white supremacy.”
The Death of D.E.I.
Vance made the comment during a speech at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday.
The vice president rallied the conservative crowd by touting the Trump administration’s dismantling of federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies – particularly laws that discriminated against white and Asian Americans.
Vance boasted: “We don’t treat anybody different because of their race or their sex. So we have relegated DEI to the dustbin of history, which is exactly where it belongs.”
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He then doubled down: “In the United States of America, you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.
“And if you’re an Asian, you don’t have to talk around your skin color when you’re applying for college. Because we judge people based on who they are, not on ethnicity and things they can’t control.
“We don’t persecute you for being male, for being straight, for being gay, for being anything. The only thing that we demand is that you be a great American patriot. And if you’re that, you’re very much on our team.”
Walz Wages War
While the TPUSA crowd went wild, Minnesota Gov. Walz was appalled, telling a crowd of his own: “This is what happens when they target communities for their own benefit. This is what happens when they scapegoat. And this is what happens when they no longer hide the idea of white supremacy.”
The 61-year-old democrat has accused the Trump Administration of “waging war” against his state and the Somalis who live there and accused Trump and Vance of being racist.
Walz continued: “When you hear the vice president of the United States talk about ‘Now white people won’t have to apologize for being white…’ That’s never once happened in my whole damn life.”
Erika Kirk Endorses ‘Vance 2028’
Vance, 41, may have turned off Walz at the Turning Point event, but it seems his passion has clearly turned on Charlie Kirk‘s widowed wife, Erika.
The new leader of TPUSA endorsed the veep for a run at the big office in 2028, weeks after she set tongues wagging with an “extremely close” hug with Vance.
“We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible,” Erika, 37, told the audience.
Vance Hints at a Presidential Run
While Vance has not officially announced his run to succeed his boss, he strongly hinted at it in a November Fox News interview, dishing how he would have more to say after the November 2026 midterm elections.
“We’re going to win the midterms, we’re going to do everything that we can to win the midterms, and then after that, I’m going to sit down with the president of the United States and talk to him about it,” Vance told the outlet. “But let’s focus on the now.”
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CNN panel identifies 2028 frontrunners for Democrats – with a new name added to the mix
Rachel Dobkin
Fri, December 26, 2025 at 10:09 AM GMT+7
0
A CNN panel has identified the Democratic frontrunners for the 2028 presidential election with a new name added to the mix.
While the 2028 election is still three years away, some can’t help but speculate who will end up on the ticket. While there’s been talk about California Governor Gavin Newsom’s rise in popularity thanks to his social media trolling efforts against President Donald Trump and a potential matchup between progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, and Vice President JD Vance, there’s one Democrat some may be overlooking.
Senator Raphael Warnock’s name popped up in a recent panel discussion on CNN’s Inside Politics. Warnock was elected Georgia’s first Black senator in 2021 and has been a pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church for about two decades.
On Wednesday, CNN’s Dana Bash had her panel look at the odds of prominent Democrats winning the party’s 2028 presidential nomination based on prediction market company Kalshi.
Bash said Newsom’s odds “shot up,” showing that he has a 36 percent chance at being the Democratic presidential nominee.
“And in fact, he shot up in August when he started the fight for, which he won, for Prop50 to change the [congressional] maps in response to the fact that Texas changed the maps mid-decade. AOC is very far behind him. And [former Vice President] Kamala Harris even behind AOC,” Bash said.
Ocasio-Cortez had a 9 percent chance at the nomination and Harris trailed with 7 percent.
Bloomberg opinion columnist Nia Malika Henderson later chimed in: “The other person I might add to that is Raphael Warnock out of Georgia, who is [an] incredibly talented politician, has won in Georgia, just recently gave a speech about spirituality and affordability at the Center for American Progress. So, he is the one I think, to that list of 500 people, I would add him.”
NBC News’ Kristen Welker mentioned Warnock’s Center for American Progress speech on Meet the Press earlier this month and asked how faith can address “the deepening divides” in America.
Warnock said, “There’s kind of a spiritual heaviness in the land as people see a deepening and widening chasm between what they need from their government. Everything is basic as the safety of their children when they leave them…on a school campus all the way to healthcare. And as that chasm broadens, I think a kind of cynicism and despair sets in.
“And rather than people turning toward each other, they are tempted to turn on each other. And that creates just the kind of atmosphere where strongmen emerge, promising to solve all of our problems in one fell swoop. We have to resist that and recognize that the way to our own wholeness and well being is to affirm the humanity of our neighbors,” he added.
Warnock later added, “Donald Trump, if he’s better at something than anybody else, it’s dividing us.”
He then went on to attack Trump’s economic agenda, saying that people’s “cost for health are doubling while Congress engages in everyday political games. They’re seeing their utility costs go up, their grocery costs go up.”
While affordability still remains an issue for many Americans, inflation is cooling. The Consumer Price Index, which tracks changes in the prices consumers pay for goods and services, found that prices rose at a 2.7 percent annual rate in November, down from 3 percent in September.
Trump later lashed out at Warnock on Truth Social, writing, “Warnock spent the entire show using Religion to try and divide the Country! If a Republican, in particular ME, made those statements, it would be FRONT PAGE NEWS. He ended by saying that he was going to his Church to preach now, and while I think that’s fine, I do say, ‘What ever happened to separation of Church and State?’ That would be the first thing they would use against us but, actually, it’s something that never much bothered me.”
In response to his attack, Warnock said in an Instagram video, “Mr. President, my faith is not a weapon, it’s a bridge, and I invite you to Bible study. Maybe you can meet the Jesus I know. In the meantime, I’m going to keep fighting for the people.”
While some are predicting nominees for the 2028 presidential election, Democrats have a more pressing matter — the 2026 midterm elections. To gain control of Congress, Democrats will have to win a net gain of about four seats in the Senate and five seats in the House.
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Nick Fuentes’ latest racist campaign is to stop Vivek Ramaswamy from becoming Ohio governor
Patrick Reilly
Wed, December 24, 2025 at 8:13 PM GMT+7
0
Offensive far-right firebrand Nick Fuentes said he plans to campaign against Vivek Ramaswamy in an openly racist campaign to try to stop him from becoming the next governor of Ohio.
The self-professed white nationalist, 27, told his twisted followers they need to “deny Vivek Ramaswamy the governorship,” calling next year’s Ohio election “the only race” he cares about, for blatantly racist reasons.
“This anchor baby cannot become the governor of Ohio, I don’t care if it’s a Jewish woman who wins,” the notorious antisemite and Holocaust denier said on a recent podcast, referencing leading Democratic candidate Amy Acton.
(The term “anchor baby” refers to a noncitizen giving birth to a child in a country with birthright citizenship — as the US has — to give the child’s family an advantage in gaining citizenship.)
“What kind of message would that send? That sends a message that you can say and do anything to white people — they’ll tolerate any level of disrespect,” he said.
Fuentes’ comments come after Vice President JD Vance told him to “eat s–t” for attacking his wife, Usha, who is the daughter of two Indian immigrants.
Ramaswamy, a father of two, was born in Cincinnati to immigrants from southern India in 1985. His mother worked as a geriatric psychiatrist while his father worked as an engineer and patent attorney.
He was raised as a Hindu and attended Harvard University, where he obtained a degree in biology, and later graduated from Yale Law School.
The former presidential hopeful is the front-runner in Ohio’s gubernatorial race, but Fuentes, who is from Illinois, is keen on seeing literally anybody else elected.
“He has to be denied next year. So we’ll be going out telling people ‘Vote for a protest candidate, vote for a Democrat, vote for a third party, don’t vote, don’t vote for anyone else.’ Don’t give the anchor baby your vote — disgusting,” he said.
