Administration Vance, Rubio jammed into high-stakes horse race for Trump’s favor by Amie Parnes and Julia Mueller - 03/12/26 6:00 AM ET by Amie Parnes and Julia Mueller - 03/12/26 6:00 AM ET Share ✕ LinkedIn LinkedIn Email Email NOW PLAYING When President Trump gave his first press conference since the start of the Iran war, he brushed past Vice President Vance, instead lavishing praise on Secretary of State Marco Rubio.  “Marco Rubio is doing a great job. I think he’s going to go down as the greatest secretary of State in history,” Trump told reporters Monday. “He’s been successful no matter where he’s been.” When asked whether he and Vance, known for imposing foreign wars and entanglements, disagreed on any points related to the conflict, Trump only offered: “He’s philosophically a little different from me.”  Over the course of the rest of the roughly 30-minute press conference, he never mentioned Vance again directly by name.  The moment reflected the clearest sign yet of the internal horse race that is playing out in Trump’s orbit over who will succeed him. Vance and Rubio, by just about every estimate, are the two leading contenders. Trump’s glowing remarks about his secretary of State created an opening of sorts for Rubio on the heels of what the president considers two successful military missions in Venezuela and Iran. Rubio also got a shot of momentum after a  well-received speech  at the Munich Security Conference. But it’s far from clear whether Trump has a real favorite between the two. “Trump knows this is playing in the backdrop, and he’s struggling with it,” said one Republican fundraiser of the debate on who might succeed Trump atop the GOP and MAGA. “That’s why he keeps asking people what they’re thinking.”  NBC reported earlier this week that in the hours before the U.S. joined Israel in the military attack in Iran, Trump hosted a room full of top administration officials and donors at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. During the evening, he posed a “pressing question” to attendees: “Marco or JD?”  One attendee told the outlet the room was largely in favor of Rubio. But another disputed that characterization and said the room was split.  A separate source familiar with the gathering told The Hill that the sentiment in the room skewed more moderate and favored Rubio.  Some political observers say Trump relishes the political intrigue around the Vance-Rubio question. “It’s very Trump to constantly do a pulse check on how folks feel about Marco versus Vance. That is very much in the president’s DNA, to get a sense of where donors are and politicos and even folks in the media,” GOP strategist Brian Seitchik said. “The president is always evaluating and comparing, and he’s well aware also that, by nature, those types of questions generate competition, which anyone who’s watched ‘The Apprentice’ knows he values,” said Seitchik, who worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns.  White House communications director Steven Cheung shrugged off reports that Trump has been pitting the two officials against each other, hailing the president’s “all-star team.” “No amount of crazed media speculation about Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio will deter this Administration’s mission of fighting for the American people,” Cheung said. Trump’s decisions on Iran could shape a GOP primary in 2028, and there are risks related to the war for any GOP candidate who might run for president then. Rubio came under criticism last week after remarks he made appeared to suggest the U.S. joined attacks on Iran in part because Israel was going to do so regardless of Trump’s decision, and that it needed to strike first before Iran counterattacked. That angered MAGA proponents wary of the U.S. being dragged into a war by Israel. It’s possible it will benefit Vance in 2028 if he’s seen as a brake on those who want to push a more aggressive foreign policy in the Middle East, though there would also be clear dangers to anyone in Trump World who is seen as not backing the president’s decision. “The things he’s doing now, these are not popular, win-the-midterms moves,” the fundraiser said of the Iran war.  New Hampshire Republican strategist Jim Merrill, who was the senior adviser for Rubio’s presidential campaign in the state, said Trump appears to have “enormous admiration” for both men. Vance, who was once a “never-Trump guy,”  dismissed speculation  in November about a rivalry with Rubio, and last month  called Rubio  his “closest friend” in the administration.  Rubio, who ran