President Donald Trump orchestrated an uncomfortable moment by asking Rupert Murdoch to compare Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio while both men sat at the same dinner table.
According to a passage obtained by Axios from the forthcoming book "Regime Change," by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, the conservative media mogul expressed a clear preference in an exchange that lingered in the memories of everyone present.
"Trump's parlor game shows that Vance, as the authors write, can be sure Trump won't 'make it easy for him' to get the 2028 GOP nomination," Axios reported.
The October 16, 2025, dinner marked an apparent thaw between Trump and Murdoch, who had clashed after Trump sued the media mogul and The Wall Street Journal last year over reporting on his past association with Jeffrey Epstein. The authors describe Trump as "avuncular" that evening, with Murdoch seated beside him, even as parts of Murdoch's media empire reportedly discussed producing a book branding Trump the "President of Peace."
The president asked Murdoch his opinion of Vance, whom he said "has the potential to be great," but he described the secretary of state as "brilliant," according to Haberman and Swan.
The exchange is being read as evidence that Trump intends to keep his potential 2028 successors guessing rather than clearing a path for Vance, who the authors note should expect Trump won't make the nomination process easy for him.
The book has also stirred concern inside the White House over how its authors obtained such granular detail, including fears that Situation Room conversations may have been secretly recorded.
Vance addressed those suspicions directly in an interview with podcaster Megyn Kelly, referencing a New York Times excerpt of the book and saying certain details left him worried that recordings were made without authorization, which he noted would constitute a felony.
Murdoch had previously lobbied against Trump's selection of Vance as his 2024 running mate, according to the book. Other dinner guests reportedly discussed the Murdoch-Rubio-Vance moment privately for weeks afterward, underscoring how closely Trump's inner circle watches his signals about a possible successor.