2028 fantasy draft: Republicans
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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All right. Today, we bring you another 2028 candidate draft. On the pod recently, we ran through some Democrats who may be running in 2028. Today, it's time for the Republicans. Let's get into it.
Love the sound.
It's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Miles Parks. I cover voting.
I'm Ashley Lopez. I cover politics. And I'm Tamara Keith. I also cover politics.
It's time now for the Republican round of our first 2028 presidential candidate draft. I feel like I'm trying to sound like Sunday Night Baseball announcers from my youth, but I feel like I should just be Miles Parks from NPR.
No, I like Miles on steroids.
Who are the hosts and what is the format of this 2028 Republican fantasy draft?
So for the complete rules on how this is going to work, people can go and they should go listen to our Democratic edition of this podcast. But are you guys ready for the Republican side?
Yeah. Never been more ready in my life.
All right. I'm going to hand it over to fantasy draft commissioner and podcast producer Casey Morrell.
The first pick in the Republicans draft goes to Miles Parks. Miles, you're on the clock.
Ooh.
Too easy.
Too easy, guys.
Yeah?
Got to go with J.D. Vance.
All right.
Current Republican vice president.
What a safe choice.
I had no choice. I mean, there's really, I don't know. I'm eager to hear if you guys would have picked someone else in the first pick. But I got to go chalk. Got to go low risk. I mean, I will note, I got some numbers here. I brought some numbers here for this. Okay. About a third of vice presidents in modern history have gone on to be elected president. So I'm just going with the numbers here. He's a current vice president. Yes. Is the current president unpopular? Yes. But I still think the most likely outcome is that J.D. Vance wins this nomination. Whether he wins the presidency is another thing. But I'm going to go with the highest percentage chance of winning that nomination.
Yeah. And I will say that my reporting indicates that he has really sort of locked up the Trump digital operation. He has people working for him. No one is allowed to talk about running for president in front of Donald Trump because, you know. You don't do that. But he is doing all of the things. He is making all of the motions. And I just have to say, also, in a year where, as you say, the sitting president is pretty unpopular, we don't know what his popularity will be in two years. It Could certainly change. Lots of things can change. But it could be that there aren't that many people who want to run for president in a year when they know that the environment is going to be bad for Republicans. So people who maybe have the most promise, the most political charisma, which I think we could safely say J.D.
Vance has some political charisma challenges. Very online. You know, some of the people who maybe have the most political charisma might sit it out thinking they may have a better chance in four years.
I frankly could see him looking at this as a challenge, even if he's coming out of a position where Trump was unpopular. He's somebody who... It's been talked about ad nauseum how the things he said about President Trump in private and in public in 2016 and his ability to sort of chameleon out of that and become the vice president in a Trump presidency is amazing. And I think he is somebody who prides himself on his ability to be persuasive. And so I could just see him looking at that as a challenge.
Well, if he loves a challenge, he's got one, because I do think there are a lot of unknowns about what the Republican base is going to look like without Trump being the standard bearer. What 2028 Republican base voters are going to want out of a candidate is a very open question. And I think we're already seeing fractures in the far right, which is where he has positioned himself, which, by the way, is a very small corner of politics.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:08
2
Who are the hosts and what is the format of this 2028 Republican fantasy draft?
1:08–4:25
3
Why does Miles pick J.D. Vance as the likely 2028 Republican nominee?
4:25–26:49
4
What are the arguments for and against Marjorie Taylor Greene as a viable primary contender?
26:49–33:21