JD Vance Remains Republicans’ Top Pick For 2028
Republicans and right-leaning independents still like Vice President JD Vance the best for the next presidential primary, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved up in a new Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll.
The poll asked 952 Republicans and 225 independents who lean Republican from all over the country to choose from 15 well-known conservative politicians or to pick “someone else” or “not sure.”
The current vice president, Vance, was the clear winner, with 36% of people choosing him. He got almost twice as many votes as Donald Trump Jr., who came in second with 19%. Another 14% said they weren’t sure, bringing the total to 70% of all respondents.
But both Vance and Trump Jr. lost some support since a similar October Voters’ Voice Poll. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on the other hand, gained ground.
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Rubio only got 9% of the vote, but he was the third choice on the list and the second most popular candidate among independent voters.
This comes as President Trump asked a group of donors at his Mar-a-Lago estate for their thoughts about Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“What do you think of JD Vance and Marco Rubio?” Trump asked, the Wall Street Journal reported.
According to sources who spoke to The Wall Street Journal, donors applauded loudly for Rubio. The applause for Rubio was reportedly louder than the reaction for Vance. The informal poll came one day after Trump placed Rubio prominently in the administration’s public posture.
Trump noted Monday during a press conference in Florida that Vance had been “less enthusiastic” about going to war with Iran. Trump also described differences in the way the two men approach politics and diplomacy.
“He gets a little bit tough on occasion; we gotta slow him down on occasion,” Trump said about Vance.
Trump then contrasted that approach with Rubio’s style.
“Then we have the opposite extreme,” Trump said.
“Marco does it with a velvet glove. But it’s a kill,” Trump said.
Despite the strong reaction from donors, a recent poll suggests Vance may hold greater influence among voters.
A survey conducted by the Daily Mail and JL Partners between March 2 and March 3 asked voters which figures have the most influence in Trump’s inner circle.
Vance led the poll with 19 percent. Rubio received 12 percent. Stephen Miller and Donald Trump Jr. were tied for third place. The poll surveyed 1,020 registered voters and had a margin of error of 3.1 percent.
The same survey found Rubio’s approval rating declined from 40 percent in February to 36 percent on Friday.
Thirty four percent of respondents said they disapproved of Rubio. Seventeen percent said they were neutral.
Fourteen percent said they were unsure.
Both Vance and Rubio have rejected suggestions that they are rivals. Vance addressed the issue during a February interview with Fox News.
“Marco is my closest friend in the administration,” Vance said.
“I think it’s so interesting the media wants to create this conflict where there just isn’t any conflict,” Vance said.
Rubio also addressed speculation about a possible 2028 presidential race. Rubio told Vanity Fair last year that if Vance runs for president in 2028 he would support him.
“If he runs for president in 2028, he’s going to be our nominee, and I’ll be one of the first people to support him,” Rubio said.
House Passes Bill To Ease Recovery of Nazi-Looted Art
Legislation aimed at making it easier for heirs of Holocaust victims to recover Nazi-looted artwork passed the House of Representatives on Monday, despite concerns from some U.S. museums and European stakeholders that the measure could limit legal defenses used in past cases.
The bill would extend the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016, which is set to expire at the end of the year.
The 2016 law was intended to address situations in which museums and other institutions blocked restitution claims by relying on statutes of limitations. It allows heirs to file claims within six years of discovering or identifying stolen artwork, the New York Times reported.
House Passes Bill To Ease Recovery of Nazi-Looted Art
In the years since the law’s passage, courts have at times ruled that the passage of decades made it difficult for current owners — including major museums — to defend against claims. The new legislation seeks to address that issue by limiting the use of time-based defenses.
The measure, which passed the Senate unanimously in December, now heads to President Donald Trump for consideration. A White House spokesperson declined to comment on whether the president will sign the bill. It was introduced in the House by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.).
“The Holocaust was one of the darkest chapters in human history, marked not only by the murder of millions of Jews but also by the systematic theft of their homes, livelihoods, and cultural heritage,” said Lee in a statement posted to her congressional website.
“For many families, the fight to recover artwork stolen during the Holocaust has continued for generations. The HEAR Act of 2025 ensures these claims are evaluated on their merits—not dismissed because of technical legal barriers. This legislation reaffirms our nation’s commitment to justice, accountability, and historical truth,” she added.
“The thousands of missing pieces of art looted from Jewish families by Hitler’s regime during the Holocaust are a painful reminder of a time when cruelty and hatred reigned,” added Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). “This legislation renews our commitment to Holocaust survivors and their families by ensuring cases are heard on their merit, offering a path to restitution and assurance that such injustices are never forgotten.”
“Holocaust survivors and their families deserve the opportunity to pursue claims for what was wrongfully taken from them,” said Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis). “With the House passage of this bill, we are ensuring their cases can continue to be heard in U.S. courts without being blocked by procedural loopholes.
“As it heads to President Trump’s desk, this legislation helps make sure those still seeking to recover artwork stolen during one of history’s darkest chapters can continue pursuing justice,” he noted further.
“I strongly commend House and Senate leaders, as well as the sponsors of the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act Improvements of 2025 for passing this important bill through Congress today. When I led an effort to pass the original HEAR Act in 2016, I never envisioned that we would need an extension 10 years later. But it is clear that the countless artwork that was stolen from Jews during World War II by the Nazis remain wrongfully owned and hidden.” said Ronald Lauder, President of World Jewish Congress.
“By eliminating the statute of limitations and other efforts to delay claimants from having their day in court, we move that much closer to reuniting stolen artwork to the rightful heirs. To the museums and collectors here in the United States that have been waiting out the clock, time is up,” he continued.
“Time is up to close this ugly chapter, which has sullied the art world, and allow justice to be served on the merits. We cannot go back and change what happened. All we can do is stop the continuation of this crime. After more than 80 years, it is time to put these ghosts to rest.”
Obama Accuses JD Vance Of Promoting ‘Blood And Soil’ Politics
Former President Barack Obama rarely mentions Vice President JD Vance by name, but that changed this week with one of his sharpest public attacks since Vance took office.
The comments immediately fueled speculation that Democrats are beginning to focus more attention on the vice president as Republicans look ahead to the post-Trump era.
Speaking Thursday during a conversation with author Malcolm Gladwell, Obama accused Vance of promoting what he described as a “blood and soil” vision of America, despite being married to Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants.
Obama made the remarks while discussing the Reconstruction era and arguing that many of the same debates over citizenship, voting rights and national identity continue today.
“We have a politics now that at least one of our major parties has been captured by politics that is not that subtle about suggesting that ‘We the people’ means a certain kind of people,” Obama said.
“When you have the vice president, current vice president, making a speech that is basically a blood and soil version of ‘We the people,’ that it matters who your parents were and how long they’ve been here despite him being married to a daughter of an immigrant himself.”
The phrase “blood and soil” is historically associated with Nazi Germany and white nationalist ideology.
Obama went on to argue that debates over who belongs in America remain central to the nation’s politics.
“That echoes, then, ideas about who can be a citizen, who belongs, who gets to make decisions,” he said.
Gladwell followed by accusing Vance of hypocrisy, arguing that the vice president was making what he called a nativist argument despite his own family’s immigrant background.
Obama agreed.
“That is progress,” Obama said.
“Listen, hypocrisy is progress. It is, because it means that you feel guilty enough to either lie to yourself or others.”
Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to Vance’s office for comment.
Obama did not identify the specific speech he was criticizing, but Vance’s most recent nationally televised remarks came during Independence Day celebrations marking America’s 250th birthday.
In that speech, Vance encouraged Americans to reject what he called a “two-dimensional view” of the country focused only on its historical failures.
“So what I’d ask you to do, my fellow Americans, on our 250th birthday, is to reject the two-dimensional view of your fellow citizens and reject the two-dimensional view of your country,” Vance said.
“Reject the view of your nation that sees only its sins, but not its grace and its greatness.”
He also emphasized that America’s accomplishments were achieved by “a common people working towards a common future.”
Obama has generally avoided making Vance a regular target since the vice president took office.
One notable exception came during the 2024 presidential campaign when then-Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
Without naming Vance directly, Obama contrasted Harris’ choice with the Republican ticket.
“When a presidential candidate chooses a running mate, it says a lot about who they are and what kind of president they’ll be,” Obama said at the time, Fox News reported.
Political observers have increasingly discussed Vance as a potential frontrunner for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, though he has not announced any plans to run.
Against that backdrop, Obama’s unusually direct criticism is likely to fuel speculation that some Democrats are beginning to sharpen their message against a politician they view as a likely future standard-bearer for the Republican Party. While no Democratic leaders have publicly described their strategy in those terms, prominent figures often begin drawing contrasts with potential future rivals well before a presidential campaign officially begins.
Whether that proves to be the case remains to be seen, but Obama’s remarks marked one of his most pointed critiques of Vance to date and ensured the vice president once again found himself at the center of the national political conversation.
