JD Vance and Marco Rubio Reportedly ‘Cannot Stand Each Other’: President Trump ‘Loves a Rivalry’

Tensions are seemingly high between Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

In the Thursday, April 30, edition of Rob Shuter‘s Naughty But Nice Substack, a source revealed, “These two are absolutely rivals,” noting, “They play nice in public, but privately they cannot stand each other.”

Insiders told Shuter that at a recent donor gathering at Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump asked who people saw as the future head of the Republican Party, looking toward 2028.

“The room erupted for Rubio. People were openly cheering his name,” a second source revealed. “JD saw it, and JD clocked it. He pays very close attention to who is getting Trump’s attention — and who is not.”

While Vance, 41, and Rubio, 54, are in their own lanes in Trump’s cabinet, they are still in competition, a third source explained.

“Marco has the international spotlight,” the source said. “JD has Trump’s ear. They are competing with different currencies, but they are absolutely competing.”

As for how the commander-in-chief feels about the situation, according to a fourth source, “Trump loves a rivalry.”

“He knows competition keeps everyone sharp, loyal, and desperate to impress him,” the source added.

According to Sara Longwell, a political consultant who runs weekly focus groups with Trump voters and asks them who they see as the 2028 presidential nominee, the tides are turning against Vance.

“More and more, what we’re hearing in response is a strange new respect for Rubio,” she wrote in an article for The Atlantic on Thursday, April 23. “Although Vance might seem like a more natural MAGA heir, many Trump voters see Rubio as a stabilizing force who comes off a lot better than many of his peers inside the administration, including the vice president.”