“During a video appearance at a reunion of his former federal cost-cutting team, Elon Musk predicted that the country is at the start of a ‘great 12-year span’ composed of the second Trump administration followed by two consecutive JD Vance terms,” Politico reports.

“Donald Trump Jr is emerging as a potential choice to succeed his father on the Republican ticket in 2028, at least according to one poll,” The Independent reports.

“JD Vance would still appear to be the front runner to take on the mantle for the GOP, pollsters McLaughlin and Associates say. But their latest survey of voters in November shows his favorability has fallen to 34 percent, after consistently dropping for several months.”

Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk said her organization’s efforts to support a potential JD Vance presidential campaign in 2028 are “in the works,” CNN reports.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) “refuted reports that she’s planning to run for president on Sunday, days after she announced plans to leave Congress amid a break with President Trump,” CBS News reports.

Said Greene: “I’m not running for President and never said I wanted to and have only laughed about it when anyone would mention it.”

“Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has retreated from the national stage in recent months, privately expressing ambivalence about running for president in 2028 — moves that have stunned many top Democrats,” Axios reports.

“Eager to get an edge in the wide-open 2028 field, potential Democratic hopefuls have spent much of this year hopping across national media, spending big to build digital followings, weighing in on debates, hiring experienced operatives and traveling to early primary states.”

“Whitmer has done little of that since last spring.”

“The White House and its allies believe Sen. Ted Cruz is taking positions antithetical to President Donald Trump from his perch as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee as a way to position himself against Vice President JD Vance ahead of 2028,” NOTUS reports.

“And they’re not happy about it.”

“Cruz has been making life difficult for the White House behind the scenes. He’s gone to battle over nominations, called a hearing for and been vocally critical of a top Trump appointee and unsuccessfully sought universal subpoena power, which would have given him the ability to call in anybody from the Trump administration and its close allies in the tech world.”

Politico: “He’s not exactly Joe Rogan or a Kelce brother. But with up to two million downloads a month and syndicated across iHeart radio, the podcast puts Cruz on solid ground in his side hustle and well ahead of potential 2028 competitors.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “is laying the groundwork for a 2028 presidential bid by leaning into his feud with Tucker Carlson — and staking out turf as a traditional, pro-interventionist Republican,” Axios reports.

“By poking at Carlson’s isolationist foreign policy views, accusing him of antisemitism and more, Cruz is putting himself on a collision course with Vice President Vance, a Carlson ally widely seen as the 2028 GOP frontrunner.”

Jonathan Martin: “No Democrat has had a better two years than Gavin Newsom and because of it, the California governor — a national figure since he was a 36-year-old boy mayor — has claimed a new title: front-runner.”

“It’s easy to find Newsom naysayers. In fact, there may not be a modern political figure who was simultaneously so well-positioned to be his party’s nominee and so doubted by the smart set since, well, Joe Biden in 2020.”

“So let’s not make the mistake of ignoring what’s in plain view and give the governor his due.”

“By the old rules of Democratic nominations, Newsom fits neatly in the tradition of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama: younger, outsider candidates who could credibly run fresh campaigns against the Washington status quo of both parties while claiming enough insider credentials to reassure party mandarins who care about such things.”

Former first lady Michelle Obama said at a recent event that the US isn’t ready for a woman president, CNN reports.

Said Obama: “That’s why I’m like, don’t even look at me about running ‘cause you all are lying. You’re not ready for a woman. We got a lot of growing up to do and there’s still … a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman and we saw it.”

“Vice President JD Vance acknowledged Thursday that he’s thought about the likelihood of running for president to succeed Donald Trump in 2028 — and he plans to hold a heart-to-heart with his boss about it following next year’s midterm elections,” the New York Post reports.

Jonathan Chait: “Having initially judged Greene to be a wildly uninformed conspiracy theorist, I was similarly predisposed to dismiss her evolution as a kind of revenge for being slighted. But having listened closely to her commentary of late, I’ve concluded that she is up to something more interesting and strategic.”

“Greene seems to have recognized that the president has broken faith with his own followers. That realization may also now be dawning on other Republicans after Tuesday’s electoral mini-rout, but Greene not only saw it happening sooner; she began planning her future around it.”

“She may be planning for a day when the MAGA movement is not led by Trump, or even by a member of his administration, but by a leader who can speak on behalf of its disgruntled base. Somebody like her.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is privately telling confidants that Vance is the frontrunner for the 2028 Republican nomination and that he’d support the vice president if he chooses to run, Politico reports.

Said one insider: “Marco has been very clear that JD is going to be the Republican nominee if he wants to be. And that he will do anything he can just to support the vice president in that effort.”

A new Politico Poll finds Vance emerges as the preferred candidate among Trump voters in 2024, yet he receives only a third (35 percent) of the responses.

For members: No One Runs Until Trump Says So

“Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has become increasingly vocal in her criticism of the Republican Party and its leadership, particularly in the House, is telling people she wants to run for president in 2028,” NOTUS reports.

One source says her conversations have centered around her belief she is “real MAGA and that the others have strayed,” adding that she believes she has “the national donor network to win the primary.”