President Trump gave his strongest indication yet that he will not seek a third term, as he named two possible frontrunners to continue the legacy of his MAGA movement.
Trump gave nods to Vice president J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an interview with NBC's Meet The Press.
“It’s far too early to say that. But you know, I do have a vice president … and JD’s doing a fantastic job,” Trump said.
“I don’t want to get involved in that. I think he’s a fantastic, brilliant guy. Marco is great. There’s a lot of them that are great,” he added. “We have a lot of good people in this party.”
Rubio and Vance have followed starkly different career paths to their current positions at the top of the second Trump administration.
Rubio is a career Republican who fought Trump in the 2016 presidential cycle, when Trump labeled him "Little Marco," while Vance had never held public office when Trump launched him into the U.S. Senate a few years ago. Like Rubio, Vance had also criticized Trump's original 2016 run before embracing him.
Reflecting on the growth of his historic movement, Trump predicted that MAGA will continue without him at the helm, pointing to a large number of "tremendous" individuals who could take over.
Trump said Vance would likely have an "advantage" if he runs for the presidency, but Trump predicted that his VP would face some tough challenges as well.
"I think we have tremendous people. I think we have a tremendous group of people," Trump said. "You look at Marco, you look at J.D. Vance, who's fantastic. I could name 10, 15, 20 people right now, just sitting here."
Trump had previously told Welker in March that he was "not joking" about seeking another term. The president's repeated comments to that effect rattled his critics, who accused him of seeking to defy the Constitution's two-term limit.
But Trump is clearly beginning to think about his legacy in generational terms. In his latest interview with Welker, he said four years is enough time to achieve his goals, and he will leave the rest to his successor, "ideally a great Republican."
“I’ll be an eight-year president. I’ll be a two-term president. I always thought that was very important,” he added.
“This is not something I’m looking to do. I’m looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody, ideally a great Republican," he said.
