[By Guancha Observer Network, Shao Yun]

In an interview aired on NBC on May 4th, U.S. President Trump changed his tone and said that he "does not intend" to seek re-election. He refused to reveal his preferred successor, but when listing Republican successors, he mentioned the names of Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

According to reports, Trump said that many of his supporters hope he will continue to run for re-election, but he hopes that another "great Republican" will succeed him after his second term.

When asked who could take over his mantle and lead the "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) policy agenda, Trump said it was still too early to discuss this, but added, "but you know, I do have a vice president... JD is doing an excellent job." Besides Vance, Trump also mentioned that Secretary of State Rubio "is also great."

In Trump's view, by the 2028 presidential election, the Republican Party may see up to 20 "successors." Although he emphasized that he "does not want to get involved" in the topic of succession, Trump said he believed that Vance, as vice president, might have an "internal advantage." "We have many excellent people in our party, and I see great unity. But if someone is the vice president and performs very well, I think they would naturally have some advantages."

Trump interviewed by NBC. NBC program screenshot.

According to NBC, Trump spoke highly of both Vance and Rubio. He had publicly praised Vance as "very capable." On the other hand, current兼任 four positions, Rubio can be considered a "core figure" in the Trump administration - not only as Secretary of State, but also appointed as Acting Administrator of USAID and Acting Director of NARA.

On April 1st, after Walts was reassigned due to the "group chat leak" incident, Rubio took over as Acting National Security Advisor. In the April 4th interview, Trump said he did not think Rubio would "hold this position long-term," but he was not in a hurry to find a replacement. Politico News expects that Rubio will continue to hold both positions of Secretary of State and National Security Advisor for at least the next six months.

On April 7th, 2025, Washington D.C., Oval Office, Trump, Vance, and Rubio (left to right) during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Visual China.

It is worth noting that before Trump assumed office, media articles had analyzed that Rubio's position as Secretary of State might not last long. The article pointed out that Trump, who practices "non-traditional" foreign policies, has always been distrustful of career diplomats, and the influence of the State Department has been declining in successive U.S. administrations. Rubio might not have much room to maneuver.

The article also mentioned that Rubio and Trump were once fierce rivals, and had a "memorable" verbal spat during the 2016 election campaign. Although they had reconciled earlier, the possibility of their policy disagreements remained significant. A former Biden administration official speculated that Trump temporarily placed Rubio at the State Department precisely because he "did not think the State Department had any role in formulating foreign policy."

Currently, Trump's first hundred days in his second term have just passed, but his approval ratings are poor in multiple polls. On April 27th, a new poll conducted jointly by ABC News, The Washington Post, and Ipsos found that Trump's approval rating for the first hundred days was 39%, setting a record low among American presidents in the past 80 years.

A separate poll released by CNN on the same day showed that Trump's approval rating was 41%, down 4 percentage points from March and 7 percentage points since February. According to a recent poll by The New York Times and Siena College, 53% of Americans expressed dissatisfaction with Trump overall, while 44% expressed satisfaction.

Even Fox News, which is traditionally friendly to Republicans, found in its exclusive poll that Trump's approval ratings were low in almost all policy areas except border issues. Its April 23rd poll showed that 59% of voters were dissatisfied with Trump's governance, 71% of respondents were dissatisfied with the state of the economy, 82% were concerned about high prices, and 55% said their family situation was getting worse.

This article is an exclusive piece by the Observer Network and cannot be reproduced without permission.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7500889849793233434/

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