California Governor Gavin Newsom admitted in an interview on Wednesday that Vice President JD Vance “scares” him as a potential successor to President Trump and the next leader of the Make America Great Again movement. As Trump weighs who could carry the mantle after his second term, the conversation has largely centered on Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Newsom told former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki that Vance is a “fraud” and a “phony,” accusing him of putting “a mask on his face and growing into it.” The governor did not offer specific examples, but claimed that those around Vance, including some of his biggest funders, give him cause for concern.
Marco Rubio is a complete fraud. But no one tops JD Vance. Talk about a guy who put a mask on his face and grew into it. Pathetic. pic.twitter.com/fNbTEYJY4z
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 26, 2026
“There are some people waiting in the wings in the MAGA world who would love to be the chosen ones of the Trump orbit,” Psaki said. “JD Vance is one of them. Marco Rubio is one of them. Do you think they can carry on the MAGA flame here?”
“No. But Vance, for whatever reason, scares me,” Newsom said.
“Why?”
"I don't know, I mean, talk about a guy who put a mask on and his face grew into it," the California Governor said.
“What frauds, what phonies. But JD is a unique fraud and phony. And he’s a little more dangerous. And the folks around him, these are not folks that believe, I mean, listen to some of its biggest funders, the way they talk. There’s a nihilism to the way they talk about the world,” Newsom went on. “I know these guys. I literally know them, not figuratively know them. Some of them are in the book, knew them back when.”
“So, again, I don’t want to be overly hyperbolic about this,” Newsom said. “So [Trump’s] going to try to run this out until right after the end, until he can pick and choose who goes behind him. Or, God forbid, we don’t take back the House of Representatives, he may be on that ballot.”
All of this comes as Trump supporters closely watch for signs of whom the president might ultimately elevate as his successor. Early polling suggested Vice President Vance held a clear edge. Still, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has rapidly emerged as a formidable contender, highlighted by a widely praised speech at the Munich Security Conference, urging America’s European allies to stand with the United States in defense of Western civilization.
For now, President Trump has declined to anoint an heir definitively. He has floated the idea of a Vance-Rubio ticket, while pointedly refusing to rule out a Rubio-Vance alternative, keeping both men firmly in the conversation as the future of the MAGA movement continues to take shape.