Vance's hot summer positions to be Trump's heir — for now

According to Axios, Vice President JD Vance is having the kind of summer that positions him as President Trump's undisputed political heir — at least for now. Vance published a bestselling book on faith called "Communion," helped broker a tentative memorandum of understanding with Iran alongside envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, and gave thirty-three interviews in June, ranging from conservative podcasts to Bill Maher and "The View." Axios reports that Trump, who once pitted Vance against Secretary of State Marco Rubio as rival successors, has stopped asking advisers which one they'd prefer. One insider paraphrased the president's shift as no longer asking how Vance is doing, but simply declaring that he looks great. Vance has also raised about seventy million dollars for the Republican National Committee. His favorability among all Americans remains underwater, roughly even with Trump's, but among Republicans his net favorability sits at sixty-two percent, just behind Trump's sixty-five and well ahead of Rubio's fifty-one. Rubio, for his part, has signaled he has no desire to mount a primary campaign — and, as one ally put it, lacks the political infrastructure Vance has built.

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