Vice President J.D. Vance said he is ready to lead the nation if something should happen to President Trump.
In an interview with USA Today, Vance touted Trump's age-defying stamina but acknowledged that "tragedies happen."
“Yes, terrible tragedies happen,” he told USA Today. “And if, God forbid, there’s a terrible tragedy, I can’t think of better on-the-job training than what I’ve gotten over the last 200 days.”
79-year-old Trump became the oldest president to be sworn in this January, giving Democrats a faint hope that an unforeseen event may end his presidency prematurely.
Despite his age, Trump is more dominant than ever before. Indeed, he has been such an unstoppable force in his second term that some on the left have sought comfort in baseless rumors of his death, which Trump dispelled Monday by stating he "never felt better."
Vance said he is "very confident" that Trump, who survived assassination attempts last year, will stay through 2028 and do "great things" for the country.
The 41-year-old vice president noted that Trump is the hardest worker in the White House, despite being significantly older than most of his staff.
“The president is in incredibly good health,” said Vance.
"He's got incredible energy, and while most of the people that work around the president of the United States are younger than he is, I think that we find that he actually is the last person who goes to sleep, he’s the last person making phone calls at night, and he’s the first person who wakes up and the first person making phone calls in the morning,” he continued.
Trump has stopped short of anointing Vance his successor, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio also receiving big praise from the president on occasion, although Trump did say recently that Vance is the likely heir apparent to the MAGA movement.
The future of the Democratic party is harder to predict. A void in leadership was opened by Trump's crushing defeat of Kamala Harris last November, sending Democrats into a political wilderness from which they have yet to emerge.
One Democrat who is receiving lots of publicity lately is Gavin Newsom. The California governor has consciously attempted to raise his profile as the left's answer to Trump, even taunting the president with a crude copy of his unique communication style.
According to Vance, Newsom misunderstands Trump and his political "genius" - the essence of which is Trump's authenticity, a quality Democrats cannot acquire through imitation.
“Look, the autopsy for the Democrats — some free political advice from the president of the United States — is stop sounding like crazy people,” Vance told Fox News. “That really is all it is.”
