Why ‘The View’ Hosts Predict Marco Rubio Will Be 2028 GOP Nominee, Not Vance

The cohosts of The View were dead set on their prediction that Vice President JD Vance will not be the Republican party’s nominee for president in 2028. Instead, they believe it’ll be Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and here’s why.

On Friday’s (May 8) new episode of The View, the panelists reviewed footage of Rubio meeting with Pope Leo XIV and declaring some unifying aspirations for the country in a speech. In it, he said, “My hope for America is what it’s always been. I think it’s the hope that we all share. We want it to continue to be the place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything.” He also said, “Our history is not one of perfection, but it’s still better than anybody else’s history, and ours is a story of perpetual improvement. Each generation has left the next generation of Americans freer, more prosperous, safer, and that’s our goal as well.”

To the cohosts, his words sounded more like a campaign rally than a talk on behalf of Donald Trump‘s administration, though he currently serves in it.

“How about stop taking our rights away?” Joy Behar said in response. “How about not rounding up immigrants? That sounds an awful lot like a campaign speech. Is he doing damage control so he can run a campaign?”

Ana Navarro answered in the affirmative. “I have been hearing the same version of these words from Marco for 20-plus years,” she said. “It kind of breaks my heart because I remember finding him so inspiring. He just has this aspirational quality to him. He’s incredibly eloquent. His personal story is so poignant. But it all rings so hollow now for him to say that we live in a country where the color of your skin doesn’t matter, where you come from doesn’t matter, when he has been silently complicit, serving an administration that targets people, racially profiles people, is basically persecuting and torturing Latinos and Latino immigrants, is taking away voting rights from African Americans, firing people for the color of their skin. So it just to me, it’s heartbreaking and disappointing.”

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Still, Navarro added, “I do think Marco is going to end up running in 2028. I know that he tries to play nice, that JD Vance and him try to play like they’re buddy-buddies. I’ve seen this movie before. I remember when he was incredibly buddy-buddy with Jeb Bush and stabbed him in the back. So if I were JD Vance, I wouldn’t look away.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin agreed, calling the speech “vintage Marco Rubio” and pointing to his speech at the 2012 GOP convention when Mitt Romney was accepting his nomination for the presidential ticket. “I remember thinking, ‘This is the future of the Republican party,'” she said. “He’s somebody that I supported, that I thought so highly of. It’s hard to reconcile that with who he’s become in the Trump era.”

However, Griffin also contended, “He’s incredibly formidable. Donald Trump is somebody that has really engaged Democrats. I think Democrats will do well running against Trump’s agenda in the 2026 midterms. But come 2028, Donald Trump is not on the ballot, and someone like Marco Rubio could be incredibly hard to beat. He is much more eloquent than Donald Trump. He’s much, in my opinion, smarter, well-versed in foreign policy, well-versed in domestic issues, and he’s probably somebody who has much broader appeal, I think, with moderates and independents. I think JD Vance played to the base. He played to a small corner of the universe, and I don’t think he’s formidable, especially as a general election candidate. The odds-on favorite for the Republican nominee for 2028 as of today is absolutely Marco Rubio.”

Sunny Hostin then offered a bold prediction in that case, saying, “Well, then, the Republicans are going to lose. Because I do not think that Marco Rubio can remove the stench of the Trump administration from his very being. He is the son of immigrants from Cuba that came here in 1956. How dare he stand by complicitly and allow Latinos to be rounded up, allow American citizens to be shot in the face and shot in the chest and shot in the back? How dare he stand by idly while the Voting Rights Act is gutted?”

Sara Haines also agreed that Rubio was the favorite and best potential candidate for Republicans in 2028, saying, “I would be interested to see if Marco Rubio became the candidate where his interests would be because I don’t think they would align with the MAGA that we’ve seen. I think that is the break in the party. JD Vance would be a despicable candidate. And as an independent, I would say Rubio has a much better chance of playing to someone like me. JD Vance has no chance.”

The View, weekdays, 11a/10c, ABC