Rand Paul Flatly Rejects JD Vance as Trump’s ‘Heir Apparent’

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) made clear he’s far from enamored with the idea of Vice President JD Vance succeeding President Donald Trump.

In a Sunday interview on ABC’s This Week, host Jonathan Karl quizzed Paul about Vance effectively being endorsed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a 2028 candidacy in a Vanity Fair feature published on Tuesday — as well as Erika Kirk throwing her support behind the vice president.

“We saw Erika Kirk endorse JD Vance already for 2028 for president,” Karl said. “That was interesting. But also interesting was, so did Marco Rubio — who in that article in Vanity Fair said that ‘if JD Vance runs, he’ll be the nominee, and I’ll be one of the first to support him.’ I know it’s early. What do you make of this? Is JD Vance the heir apparent here?”

Paul — while not mentioning the veep’s name — positioned himself squarely against the idea of a President Vance.

“I think there needs to be representatives in the Republican Party who still believe international trade is good, who still believe in free market capitalism, who still believe in low taxes,” Paul said. “See, it used to separate conservatives and liberals that conservatives thought it was a spending problem, we didn’t want less revenue, we wanted less spending. But now all these pro-tariff protectionists, they love taxes. And so they tax, tax, tax, and then they brag about all the revenue coming in. That has never been a conservative position. So I’m going to continue to try to lead a conservative free market wing in the party, and we’ll see where things lead over time.

“And that’s not JD Vance?” Karl asked — following up.

The Kentucky senator’s response was crystal clear.

“No,” he said flatly.

Watch above, via ABC.