Not too early to support the pre-eminent presidential ticket for 2028: Secretary of State Marco Rubio and fmr. Gov. Nikki Haley
Please accept my premise that there is not a serious current Democratic politician who can effectively be in presidential or vice-presidential shoes, other than possibly Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania-who has negligible support among liberals and progressives.
https://baltimorepostexaminer.
And the unspoken rivalry between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President J.D. Vance is the most intriguing and closest rivalry anywhere, until the latter’s spurt and overbearing religiosity and hostility to Israel exploded in June, 2026.
They are reputed to be best friends, yet a 2028 presidential ticket headed by Rubio, absent Vance, promises wise, well-articulated policies supported by rhetorically excellent (political rhetoric has been my field for over 50 years) articulation.
This is not anti-Vance positioning; it is: “Why Not the Best” Positioning.” (Forgive me, dear reader, for expropriating the title of Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign’s inappropriately titled autobiography.)
According to Axios, in the upcoming work: Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump by The New York Times’ journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, at a President Trump dinner party which included the former Chairman of Fox Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, the following exchange occurred: Trump asked of Murdoch: “What do you think of JD?” Murdoch responded: “Well … I think JD has the potential to be great.” Next Trump asked: “What do you think of Marco?” Murdoch responded tellingly: “Marco is brilliant.”
Vance’s new (strategic?) ambiguity has taken a disheartening turn. There is a new infusion of hyper-religiosity in his rhetoric. Note Vance’s new book: Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, a religion-centric work that attributes to his new finding of Christianity as central to his life and work. Note also his new taunting anti-Semitic reaction to Israel’s insistence that she defend herself against Hezbollah’s continued attacks: “If I was (sic) in the Cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”
Many, including Republican office-holders and the author herein, were shocked by this gratuitously harsh attack on Israel dealing with Hezbollah’s unabated aggression against our most reliable ally in the Middle East.
https://thehill.com/homenews/
The estimable Erika Kirk, president of Turning Point, of which I was the first faculty advisor at Towson University, endorsed Vance before these latest comments.
I hope she’ll reconsider, and maybe she will.
On to Marco and Nikki: from a half-century-plus professor of Rhetoric and Communication, Rubio and Haley’s views are as close to mine as any political figure: Two strong and savvy and politically sophisticated leaders without the baggage of any scandals or crazy out-of-mainstream views (see, Sanders Bernie and certainly none of the anti-Semitism or open border nonsense of Jasmine Crockett, AOC, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and many others.
Lord, could you imagine what an exquisite ticket Rubio-Haley would constitute? It would be political and rhetorical nirvana.
Two strong and savvy and politically sophisticated leaders — when have we ever had that? Perhaps Reagan-Bush? Almost.
Read or listen to some of Rubio’s speeches, such as at The Munich Security Conference-Rubio’s spontaneous discussing foreign policy regarding Iran, Taiwan, Cuba and more in an interview with NBC News’ Tom Llamas, May 26, 2026 and almost without exception, responsible politics and rhetoric.
Here is some reluctant pro-Rubio testimony: From the anti-conservative Los Angeles Times: “..Rubio, unlike so many major figures in this administration, is a bona fide serious person. ”
And Nikki Haley, a superb potential vice-presidential candidate, about whom I have written an op-ed highlighting her exceptional quality and qualities.
The United States could have 4-8 more years of political greatness and add rhetorical greatness as well – not a small matter, especially when the other Democratic options are so odious.
Support Rubio-Haley for victory and domestic and foreign policy greatness in 2028.
Don’t settle for second-best. It is way below the best.
Richard E. Vatz https://wp.towson.edu/vatz/ is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of political rhetoric at Towson University and author of The Only Authentic of Persuasion: the Agenda-Spin Model (Bookwrights House, 2024) and over 200 other works, essays, lectures, and op-eds. He is the benefactor of the Richard E. Vatz Best Debater Award at Towson. The Van Bokkelen Auditorium at Towson University has been named after him.
Please God let this be satire. As a Floridian I’ve watched Marco Rubio since he was in the Florida House, and his level of dangerous stupidity is nearly unmatched. John Fetterman, post stroke, would be his closest rival for that position. Matching Rubio with arch-neocon Nikki Haley is a recipe for disaster, unless you are a manufacturer of weapons for war.
I strongly support Sec’y Rubio for President and am ‘OK’ with Haley for VP. The potential problem lies with whether or not Vance would ‘come along ‘ as a gentleman. How about Fetterman as V P? Impossible I know, but an interesting posit, no?