Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed ways forward for the country under the Trump administration and beyond at the American Compass New World Gala on June 3.
Although the two Republicans, who appear to be contenders in the 2028 presidential election, hit different beats, they were largely singing the same tune about prioritizing Americans, strengthening the country, and abandoning the failed globalist thinking that has undermined security, prosperity, and dignity in the United Sates.
Their outlooks on the future provided some indication of the staying power of President Donald Trump's vision as well as how it might evolve in the years to come.
Rubio kicked off his speech by countering the progressive notion that human nature changes over time, stressing that "technologies change, the clothes we wear change, even languages change, governments change — a lot of things change, but the one thing that is unchanged is human nature."
Rubio suggested that this static nature accounts for why history often repeats itself and helps explain humans' unshakable "desire to belong," which naturally scales up to nationalism, despite nationhood being a relatively "new concept" in the grand scheme of things.
"If you put humans anywhere — a handful of people anywhere — one of the first things they start doing is trying to create things that they can join or be a part of," said Rubio. "The advent of the nation-state is a normal evolution of human behavior because people think it's important to belong to something, and being part of a nation is important. And I think that's really true, obviously, increasingly in how geopolitical decisions are made."
'We've undermined our position in the world.'
Despite man's immutable desire to belong and the naturalness of this desire's expression in nationalism, Rubio suggested that many in the West nevertheless entertained the fantasy that the dissolution of the Soviet Union meant the inevitable and imminent universalization of liberal democracy — that "the entire world is going to become just like us"; that "nationhood no longer mattered when it came to economics"; "that right now the world would no longer have borders"; and that it didn't matter where things were made.
Rubio noted that this idealistic outlook "became part of Republican orthodoxy for a long time," which accounts for why the GOP long proved indifferent to the outsourcing of labor and the offshoring of productive capacity.
The decades-long flirtation with liberal globalism "robbed a nation of its industrial capacity, of its ability to make things," thereby hurting the economy, hurting the country, robbing people of jobs, and eating away at the social fabric of the nation, suggested Rubio.
"What you find is because of all of those years of neglect, because of the loss of industrial capacity, we didn't just undermine our society, we didn't just undermine our domestic economy — we've undermined our position in the world," said the secretary of state, whose department recently signaled an interest in taking up the mantle of Western civilization.
'You can never be secure as a nation unless you're able to feed your people.'
Now that America and the rest of the world are facing a "crunch," the days of illusion are over, and geopolitics are adjusting accordingly.
Rubio indicated that the Trump administration is undertaking a reorientation of domestic and foreign approaches "to take into account for the fact that you can never be secure as a nation unless you're able to feed your people and unless you're able to make the things that your economy needs in order to function and ultimately to defend yourself."
Accordingly, Rubio suggested that the country moving forward needs to:
While this direction is possibly good news for the American people, it bodes poorly for stubborn champions of the globalist dream.
New York Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie, for instance, recently complained about the MAGA vision for the future.
The MAGA movement is waging war on the nation's economic future, rejecting two generations of integration and interdependency with the rest of the world in favor of American autarky, of effectively closing our borders to goods and people from around the world so that the United States might make itself into an impenetrable fortress — a garrison state with the power to dictate the terms of the global order, especially in its own hemisphere. In this new world, Americans will abandon service-sector work in favor of manufacturing and heavy industry.
After presenting the possibility of a powerful, indomitable, and reindustrialized America as a terrifying prospect, Bouie stumbled upon the truth of the project under way, stating, "The aim, whether stated explicitly or not, is to erase the future as Americans have understood it and as they might have anticipated it."
Oren Cass, founder of American Compass, pressed Vance about the project of "reshoring and reindustrialization" that the Trump administration is pursuing.
Vance noted that at its core, the project is about addressing "stagnating living standards" affecting normal Americans "who just want to start a family, work in a decent job, earn a livable salary, and have dignified work."
'The complete disconnect between their views on foreign policy and economic policy made me realize, again, that we're governed by people who aren't up to the job.'
The vice president suggested that the offshoring of industry, an under-investment in technology, heavy industrial regulation, and high energy costs are among the factors that have made it difficult for "normal people who work hard and play by the rules to have a good life."
He also identified a "misalignment between the ... normal Americans and the talking heads in Washington" and an unworkable separation of the making of things from the innovating of things — a issue he raised in his March speech at the American Dynamism Summit — as problems warranting remedy.
RELATED: Vance: Trump’s growth plan ditches cheap labor for real jobs that will fuel American greatness
Blaze News previously noted that in his American Dynamism speech, Vance suggested that the Trump administration plans to help innovators wean off cheap foreign labor and begin on-shoring industry, partly by incentivizing manufacturing and investment inside the United States with tax cuts and other policy instruments; by erecting tariff walls around critical industries; by reducing regulations and the cost of energy; and also by enforcing immigration law and securing the border to drain the pool of cheap illegal alien labor.
In his conversation with Cass on Tuesday, Vance reiterated that America needs to effectively get innovators and labor back on the same page and in the same country and to ensure that educational institutions are equipped to supply them with talent.
Vance also criticized "pro-globalization" elements of the leadership class who are indifferent to "whether a given part of the supply chain existed here, or China, or Russia or somewhere else" yet frequently champion foreign entanglements fought with outsourced munitions and technologies.
"The complete disconnect between their views on foreign policy and economic policy made me realize, again, that we're governed by people who aren't up to the job," Vance told Cass, "until four months ago when the American people actually gave the country a government it deserved. And obviously we're in the very early days, but I think that we've done more in four months to solve these problems. But this is not a five- or a 10-year project. This is a 20-year project to actually get America back to common-sense economic policy."
When asked by NBC News' Kristen Welker last month whether he figured the MAGA movement could survive without him as its leader, President Donald Trump said, "Yes, I do. ... I think it's so strong. And I think we have tremendous people. I think we have a tremendous group of people. We talked about a number of them. You look at Marco, you look at JD Vance, who's fantastic."
Trump added that Vance is "a fantastic, brilliant guy" and "Marco is great."
A straw poll conducted at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February reportedly found that 61% of the over 1,000 attendees said they would support Vance as the future GOP standard-bearer.
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President Joe Biden's physical decline was reportedly so rapid that his team discussed putting him a wheelchair if he was re-elected, especially if he suffered another fall.
According to a new book from CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson, Biden aides discussed the president's serious physical decline, with others in his inner circle reportedly concerned about the degeneration of his spine.
The 46th president's "halting walk" was of particular concern to his staff, as was the potential of Biden suffering a devastating fall. The fears reportedly came after Biden tripped over a sandbag at the Air Force Academy in June 2023, which resulted in increased precautions over his walking paths and stage layouts.
According to Axios, Biden's team tried to implement shorter walking routes for the president, increasingly had him wear sneakers, and insisted on the installation of handrails up to the stage for his appearances. These changes were coupled with visual briefings to ensure that the president knew his particular path for each event. The situation was reportedly so dire that the briefings were described as an effort to ensure that Biden knew every step he was expected to take.
Biden's doctor, Kevin O'Connor, allegedly even had concerns that another fall could necessitate a wheelchair for the president.
RELATED: When the mainstream media's left-wing bias costs them credibility
Staff and O'Connor's concerns over Biden's "severe" levels of "physical deterioration" inspired internal discussions about the use of a wheelchair, but staff reportedly did not want to put the president's health first and were willing to wait "until after the election."
The president's team reportedly said it was politically untenable to have him use a wheelchair during the re-election campaign.
The president's physician expressed even more concerns, believing that if Biden suffered another fall, it would be a "difficult recovery."
The doctor was so worried that he reportedly joked at times that he was the only one trying to keep the president alive, whereas Biden's staff was trying to kill him. O'Connor allegedly wanted Biden to have more rest than presidential aides were allowing, and his diagnoses were even at odds with what Biden staffers were saying about his health.
For example, White House aides said the president's poor gait was a result of a foot fracture, but O'Connor had said that "both small fractures of his foot are completely healed" and that "this injury has healed as expected."
As well, O'Connor said publicly that Biden's posture problems were from "significant spinal arthritis."
An anonymous Biden spokesperson told Axios that his "medical exam made clear that he had a stiffened gait caused, in part, by wear and tear to his spine — but that no special treatment was necessary and that it had not worsened."
"He was transparent about this, and it was far from 'severe,'" the statement continued. "Yes, there were physical changes as he got older, but evidence of aging is not evidence of mental incapacity."
The spokesperson concluded, "We are still waiting for someone, anyone, to point out where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or make a presidential address where he was unable to do his job because of mental decline."
RELATED: Who can lead the Democrats out of the wilderness?
'Those who claimed nothing was wrong are politically and perhaps literally blind.'
Corporate and liberal media are "wholly guilty" of "failing to show courage to report out what was happening before our very eyes," said Curtis Houck, managing editor of MRC NewsBusters.
Houck told Blaze News, "Those who claimed nothing was wrong are politically and perhaps literally blind, and those who knew but bowed to political pressures are guilty of the highest order of cowardice."'
CNN's Tapper, who wrote the book — "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again" — has been criticized for on-air confrontations in which he accused others of lacking a medical background when pointing out the president's deterioration.
In October 2020, Tapper accused Lara Trump of mocking Biden's "stutter" when she attempted to refer to a "cognitive decline."
Houck added that without a media "cover-up," Vice President Kamala Harris likely would not have been the Democratic nominee in 2024.
"The criticism will be of Tapper and Thompson and their sources withholding key anecdotes that would have further accelerated Biden’s exit and allowed for a longer runway for whoever the Democratic nominee would have been, because it certainly wouldn't have been Kamala Harris."
Blaze News reached out to the Office of Joe and Jill Biden regarding claims made in the upcoming book. This article will be updated with any applicable responses.
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Former President Joe Biden stressed in an interview that he was not suffering from cognitive decline during his time in the Oval Office and that President Donald Trump's campaign won based on sexism.
During an appearance on "The View," Biden was asked why he thought former Vice President Kamala Harris lost the presidential election and if he was surprised at the outcome.
Biden immediately said he was not surprised, but not because Harris was unfit for office. In fact, Biden stressed that Harris was "the most qualified" person at the time to be president.
Instead, Biden said the Trump campaign was sexist and indicated that Harris was unqualified due to her ethnicity.
"I wasn't surprised because they went the route of, the sexist route, the whole route," Biden stated. "I mean, 'This is a woman. She's this. She's that.' I mean, I've never seen quite as successful and a consistent campaign undercutting the notion that a woman couldn't lead the country, and a woman of mixed race."
'We're left with a circumstance where we had a insurrection when I started.'
In another portion of the show that garnered hundreds of thousands of views, Biden was asked to address his cognitive decline that was apparent during his term, especially in the final year of his presidency. The 46th president was seen falling up stairs, falling off a bike, and frequently looking lost on stage after speeches.
"They are wrong. There's nothing to sustain that, number one," the former president claimed. Biden then pivoted to Trump's apparent failures, and said what he inherited from Trump's first term as president was substantially worse.
"Think of what, what we're left with. We're left with a circumstance where we had a insurrection when I started. Not since the Civil War [have] we had a circumstance where we were in a position that we — well, the pandemic, because of the incompetence of the last outfit — end up over a million people dying, a million people dying."
After Biden said that even "basic issues" were problems with Trump, he began to trail off before his wife, Jill Biden, intervened.
"One of the things, I think, is that the people who wrote those books were not in the White House with us, and they didn't see how hard Joe worked every single day," she claimed.
The former first lady then went into a highly promotional spiel about Biden's first term, where she claimed Biden was frequently up all night working while she was in bed.
"I'd be in bed, you know, reading my book, and he was still on the phone, reading his briefings, working with staff. I mean, it was nonstop. It's the White House. Being president is not like a job — it's a lifestyle. It's a life that you live. You live it 24 hours a day."
After the lengthy defense, President Biden seemed thoroughly impressed with his wife's support and said, "That's worth the invitation to come to the show."
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President Donald Trump said sports broadcaster Stephen A. Smith would be one of the better candidates the Democrats could run if he were to enter the primaries.
Trump called in to a live town hall show on NewsNation hosted by former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who was joined by legendary host Bill O'Reilly as well as Smith.
During the segment, the president was asked about dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, funding historically black colleges and universities, trade deals, and more. After Smith finished asking the president about HBCUs, O'Reilly decided to sneak in a question about Trump's thoughts on Smith as a presidential candidate.
"Stephen A. Smith may run for president, as you know," O'Reilly said, as the panel groaned. "Do you have any advice for Stephen A., you know, if he launches the run?"
"No. Stephen A., he's a good guy," Trump replied.
Rather than give the broadcaster advice, the president decided to praise Smith as a captivating entertainer.
"He's a smart guy. I love watching him. He's got great entertainment skills, which is very important. People watch him," Trump continued.
Perhaps handing him the biggest compliment of all, in Trump-esque fashion, the president said Smith was likely the Democrats' best chance because their other candidates are so poor.
"You know, a lot of these Democrats I watch, I say they have no chance. I've been pretty good at picking people and picking candidates, and I will tell you, I'd love to see him run."
Host Cuomo then joked that he did not want Smith to run because he liked him too much.
'What I have to do is save the country.'
The segment closed with Cuomo telling the president he tried to reach out to him following the attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania. Cuomo said he wanted to tell the president he was embarrassed by news coverage that alleged he never actually got shot.
Cuomo then asked Trump how he planned to unify the country.
The president stated that the number of votes he garnered from the Hispanic population along border states was evidence that he had unifying support, but overall he explained that he needed to simply make America great again.
"What I have to do is save the country," Trump explained.
As for Smith, his endorsements are often equaled by condemnations, even from assumed allies like fellow NBA broadcaster Charles Barkley.
In April, Barkley said on a podcast that at first he thought the idea of Smith running for president was a joke. As the idea gained more traction, he felt his friend Smith needed to "knock it off."
"Come on, man. Stop it. Come on," Barkley said about Smith. "It had to start out as a joke, and he started taking it serious. Come on, man. All I would say is, 'Knock it off.' And that's the best way to phrase it."
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NBA legend Charles Barkley said he would never vote for NBA analyst Stephen A. Smith, and Democrats are in danger of losing his vote forever if they run him.
"Calm down, Stephen A. — and Stephen A. is one of my friends," Barkley said on a recent episode of the Sports Illustrated podcast "SI Media with Jimmy Traina."
Smith has been openly flirting with the idea of politics since the 2024 election cycle, talking seriously about the candidates and speaking on divisive topics.
In November, he told the hosts of "The View" that he would consider running for president if he felt he had a "legitimate shot" to win.
"I'm half joking, but I kind of mean it," Smith said, per Sportsnaut. "I mean, I have no desire to be a congressional figure or a senator, but if you came to me and you told me I had a legitimate shot to win the presidency of the United States of America, I would definitely consider it."
It was that half joke that Barkley may have been referring to when he told the ESPN host he needed to "knock it off."
'I would not even consider voting for anybody else.'
"Come on, man. Stop it. Come on," Barkley continued. "It had to start out as a joke, and he started taking it serious. Come on, man. All I would say is, 'Knock it off.' And that's the best way to phrase it."
Host Jimmy Traina noted that the idea of running for president as a joke was long theorized about President Trump when he first decided to run in the 2016 federal election.
"The funny thing is that's what everyone says happened with Trump; he first started it as a joke because 'The Apprentice' was getting canceled. Now, you're saying Stephen A., like, you would think it's starting as like, 'Oh, let me get some attention for 'First Take,' I just got my big contract.' But now it's like he's on ABC Sunday morning saying, 'You know I got to run.'"
Barkley, forever game to talk about any issue, revealed that he would not consider voting for the Democratic Party unless it runs either Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania (D) or Governor Wes Moore of Maryland (D).
"I would not even consider voting for anybody else other than one of those two," Barkley said.
Interestingly, Barkley added that even though Trump cannot run again, the Hall of Fame player said he would not vote for Trump because he's "just not my cup of tea."
When Traina plainly asked if Barkley would vote for Smith, Barkley replied, "No. Hard No."
Smith recently signed a five-year, $100 million contract extension with ESPN — a contract that would certainly cut into any 2028 presidential bid.
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