First, Donald Trump hints at the 2028 ticket in a Cabinet meeting. Next, Marco Rubio endorses J.D. Vance, “If [he] runs for president,” all but clearing the field for the next primary cycle. And now, the key activist group for younger Republicans and the woman who has taken the reins for her martyred husband has unequivocally declared Vance 48 to be their mission.
I love it when a plan comes together.
Erika Kirk made the declaration late yesterday at the Turning Point USA conference in Arizona:
Erika Kirk: “We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible.”
pic.twitter.com/82GBRmKipg— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) December 19, 2025
The New York Post’s Ryan King seems a little confused at the ’48’ reference:
“We’re going to ensure that President Trump has Congress for all four years,” she told attendees at the Phoenix Convention Center.
“We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected for ’48 [sic] in the most resounding way possible.”
It appears that Kirk meant to say ’28, and had previously signaled that TPUSA was leaning toward backing Vance in the next presidential election.
Er … no, my dude. Donald Trump is the 45th and 47th president of the US. Mrs. Kirk is promising to make Vance the 48th. She and TPUSA are committing to making Vance the direct successor to Trump “in the most resounding way possible” a full year-plus before anyone else gets into the GOP primaries.
There are two ways of looking at this: the personal view, and the organizational view. Vance had known Charlie Kirk for a long time and had become friends with both Charlie and Erika. The Vances have undoubtedly been strongly supportive of Erika since Charlie’s assassination three months ago. Of course Erika would see Vance as her political ally and want to support his candidacy to succeed Trump as president.
However, putting the TPUSA organization onto that mission has much bigger ramifications. It fully aligns the GOP’s populist grassroots with Vance as heir apparent to MAGA. That carries the weight not just of the number of its members and activists, but also the moral and political momentum created by Charlie’s murder. Given Trump’s closeness to TPUSA and Erika Kirk in the last few months, it also carries the implication of an approved line of succession, which will mean something in the presidential primary season.
This has the aroma of a master strategy to settle the succession even before a primary fight can take place. That doesn’t mean other Republicans may not challenge for the nomination, nor does it suggest that the GOP will make the Democrats’ 2024 mistake of cooking the rules to prevent a serious challenge to the preferred nominee. What it will do is disincentivize those challengers from coming forward at the risk of (a) futility and (b) alienating the MAGA base for interfering in the mission.
Republicans considering a run at the 2028 nomination will have to ask themselves if they want to go up against Trump and TPUSA in a primary fight. A few may, especially those who want to change the direction of the party. Whether that is viable will depend on whether Trump succeeds in his second term. If he implements the MAGA agenda and it pays off in economic growth and greater security, most of those candidates will look for lower-level offices or think tanks as career options. If the Trump term is a failure, that may change things, but prospects look pretty good at the moment – assuming the GOP can hold the House and Senate.
If this strategy succeeds, as I wrote before, it will save Republicans a lot of drama and money, allowing them to focus on their opponents rather than internecine fights. Democrats have no such options, and are about two steps away from a bitter party split between the radicals and the establishment that still desperately clings to their long-dead identity as the party of the working class.
Some may consider this premature, and it may well be. However, it’s better to be arguing for Vance than, er, whatever this was at the TPUSA conference.
Tucker: Attacking millions of Americans because they’re muslims, it’s disgusting. And I’m a Christian. I know there’s effort to claim I’m a secret jihadi. I’m not. You should not attack on those grounds. And you’re seeing that from Republicans. What the hell are you doing? What… pic.twitter.com/c4WnLcaSiX
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) December 19, 2025
Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.
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