Key Republican delegates crown JD Vance as Trump's successor for 2028

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News Roundup: GOP Succession, Iran War Admission, and Political Blame

Publication date: 2026-09-10

Republican Delegates Signal Support for JD Vance as Trump’s Heir

Republicans are reportedly coalescing around Vice President JD Vance as their preferred candidate for the 2028 presidential election.

According to four sources who spoke to Politico, Vance was greeted with chants of “forty-eight” from a crowd of delegates from key battleground states during a closed-door breakfast at the Republican midterm convention on Thursday.

The breakfast, held ahead of Vance’s scheduled address Thursday night, served as a reassurance that the vice president is favored by party members to eventually succeed Donald Trump. Vance is currently leading the most recent Republican presidential primary polls, ahead of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Even Trump appears to have settled on Vance as his successor, though he continues to joke about running for a third term.

However, the path has not always been smooth for Vance. Earlier this summer, he faced online attacks from within the GOP following his involvement in a now-collapsed ceasefire agreement with Iran. Vance’s allies attempted to spin the criticism, suggesting that coordinated opposition from “establishment” and “neoconservative” Republicans could ultimately benefit him in 2028.

With the election still years away, Vance may also face a growing fissure within the Republican Party between MAGA loyalists and supporters of Charlie Kirk.

Read more: Trump Has Reportedly Settled on His 2028 Successor

Acting Navy Secretary Admits Iran “Blew the Hell” Out of U.S. Base in Bahrain

Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao reportedly admitted that the Iranian military “blew the hell” out of the U.S. naval base in Bahrain—a stark claim that contradicts the Trump administration’s narrative of having destroyed Iran’s attack capabilities.

While damage to the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters at Naval Support Activity Bahrain from a February 28 drone attack has been well documented, Cao’s comment to a reporter from the conservative outlet The Epoch Times on Thursday is the most vivid and sober analysis from an official of his rank.

Cao also told The Epoch Times’ Ryan Morgan that the attack left American forces unable to “pull in” the USS Abraham Lincoln, the aircraft carrier that spent months at sea and was ravaged by reports of poor conditions and low morale.

Fox News’s Jennifer Griffin wrote: “This is a pretty stunning admission by the Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, whose nomination is hung up in Congress, about how Iranian forces ‘blew the hell out of (U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet base in) Bahrain.’ Haven’t heard a senior U.S. official admit this on the record until now.”

Others noted that Iran’s military capacity appears far from depleted, contrary to Trump’s claims. Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute wrote:

“A clear and particularly stark pattern we see in the war with Iran is that the Iranians are inflicting tremendous STRATEGIC damage with their missiles, but that the USG denies this at first and only admits it weeks, if not months, later. This creates a PROLONGED false impression that the war is going much better than it actually is and that strategic setbacks are not taking place at all. The media narrative was that Tehran was utterly failing. In reality, Tehran was showcasing capabilities that the official Western narrative ensured were underestimated.”

When asked about plans to return to the Bahrain base, Cao told The Epoch Times, “I have a task force that’s looking at that.”

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