Two key figures, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, appear to be the front-runners. Trump himself suggested that Vance is the "likely" candidate to succeed him, while also leaving open the possibility of a Vance-Rubio joint ticket.

Elon Musk firmly supported Donald Trump’s Washington D.C. power grab while praising JD Vance as a “good guy”—a day after the vice president called for a Trump-Musk reunion. Vance had told far-right website The Gateway Pundit Saturday his thoughts on the acrimonious split earlier this year: “my hope is that it just kinda cools down a bit.

President Trump said Vice President JD Vance was “probably favorite at this point” to succeed him as leader of the hard-right political movement.