President Trump shared several pieces of huge news in a recent interview, announcing that he is not planning on pursuing a third term and confirming that he has several potential picks for his successor, including Vice President JD Vance, who the president described as “doing a fantastic job.”
For context, in a May 4, 2025, interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” President Trump shut down rumors that he might be attempting to run for a third term, acknowledging that he thought of it as a compliment that some of his allies had supported the idea of a Trump presidency in 2028. In addition, the president confirmed that his top picks for a successor were Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
During the interview, host Kristen Welker asked the president to share his thoughts on a potential successor, saying, “I know that you are only 100 days in, but as we sit here today, who do you see as your successor, Mr. President?” In response, President Trump said, “Well, it’s far too early to say that. But you know, I do have a vice president, and typically — and JD’s doing a fantastic job.”
Replying to the president, Welker asked if Vance was “at the top of the list,” to which President Trump responded, “It could very well be. I don’t want to get involved in that. I think he’s a fantastic, brilliant guy.” He added, “Marco [Rubio] is great. There’s a lot of them that are great. I also see tremendous unity.”
Continuing, President Trump dropped another hint that Vance might be the next in line, saying, “But certainly you would say that somebody’s the VP, if that person is outstanding, I guess that person would have an advantage.” He added, “But I think the other people would all stay in unbelievably high positions. But you know, it could be that he’d be challenged by somebody. We have a lot of good people in this party.”
At another point in the interview, President Trump defended his tariff strategy to Welker, who argued that “prices are already up on some popular items.” In response to this comment, the president argued, “Prices are down on groceries. Prices are down for oil. Prices are down for all energy. Prices are down at tremendous numbers for gasoline. ”
Moving on, Welker pushed harder, referring to a “transition cost” and asking Trump, “How long should people expect that transition to last, Mr. President?” Replying, President Trump said, “We were losing hundreds of billions of dollars with China. Now we’re essentially not doing business with China. Therefore, we’re saving hundreds of billions of dollars. Very simple.”
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Near the end of the interview, President Trump expressed that he was confident that the MAGA movement would survive after the end of his presidency, saying, “I think it’s so strong. And I think we have tremendous people. I think we have a tremendous group of people. We talked about a number of them. You look at Marco, you look at JD Vance, who’s fantastic. You look at — I could name 10, 15, 20 people right now just sitting here. No, I think we have a tremendous party. And you know what I can’t name? I can’t name one Democrat.”
Watch a clip from the interview:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video