Jeff Kabaservice

Nonetheless, for those Catholics who are Republicans and Trump supporters, I think, you know, this is just one more of the things that you would imagine would put people off of Trump advance and yet somehow doesn't.

Well, you know, he doesn't have a lot of pull in various segments of MAGA.

That's true.

He did not seem to be able to pull Viktor Orban across the line.

Of

inside Washington's speculation is that if Trump genuinely thought Orban was going to be reelected, he would have gone himself to support his man.

So, you know, I think J.D.

Vance is forced to take on some thankless tasks.

He does.

He notoriously flamed out when he was running against Trump and did not put on an impressive performance there.

Even his attempt to outman Trump by making fun of the size of his hands really backfired on him.

There is a feeling among people in the White House that Rubio has matured.

He's more at ease with himself than he was back when he ran then.

He's also seen as having a somewhat independent brand from Trump.

Maybe one that actually reaches back a little more to older versions of republicanism like the kind that would have been familiar to Ronald Reagan.

But yet he's actually been very adept in both channeling that kind of support from the business community, for example, while not forfeiting his support from the more populist MAGA people.

But of course, he hasn't really had to make much of a difficult balancing act because he's not officially a candidate for anything at this point.

So the pressure is much lower than it would be if he were to actually throw his hat in the ring.

Go ahead.

Marco Rubio has sort of ascended in the polls, or at least some of the polls lately, partly because he's had more visible roles, not just because of the Iran war, but also because of the Venezuelan intervention, for example, that deposed Nicolas Maduro.