Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) admitted during a Wednesday interview that Vice President JD Vance “scares” him as the potential heir apparent to helm the Make America Great Again movement going into the 2028 presidential election.
Newsom voiced his concerns to former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on MS NOW, calling Secretary of State Marco Rubio “a complete fraud” and telling her that Vance, in particular, worried him “almost more than” President Donald Trump.
WATCH:
Marco Rubio is a complete fraud. But no one tops JD Vance. Talk about a guy who put a mask on his face and grew into it. Pathetic. pic.twitter.com/fNbTEYJY4z
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 26, 2026
“There are some people waiting in the wings in the MAGA world who would love to be the chosen ones of the Trump orbit,” Psaki began, adding, “JD Vance is one of them. Marco Rubio is one of them. Do you think they can carry on the MAGA flame here?”
“No. But Vance, for whatever reason, scares me,” Newsom volunteered.
“Why?” Psaki pressed.
“Almost more than Trump. I don’t know. I just — I mean, talk about a guy who put a mask on and his face grew into it,” Newsom said, complaining that Vance and Rubio — as well as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — had been “effective” critics of Trump before coming around to his way of thinking.
“What frauds, what phonies. But JD is a unique fraud and phony. And he’s a little more dangerous. And — and the folks around him, these are not folks that believe — I mean, listen to some of its biggest funders, the way they talk. There’s a nihilism to the way they talk about the world,” Newsom continued, adding, “I know these guys. I literally know them, not figuratively know them. Some of them are in the book, knew them back when.”
“So, again, I don’t want to be overly hyperbolic about this,” Newsom said, just as he pivoted to be more hyperbolic: “So [Trump’s] going to try to run this out until right after the end, until he can pick and choose who goes behind him. Or, God forbid, we don’t take back the House of Representatives, he may be on that ballot.”
Psaki agreed, “He’ll try.”
“I just wouldn’t put it past him,” said Newsom.
Trump has repeatedly said that he will not seek a third term in the White House, and has demurred when asked who he might want to see replace him. Touting the skills of both Vance and Rubio, Trump has only said that either would be a good choice.
