The GOP doesn’t have another Donald Trump in its ranks and there will be a “fundamental debate” over the future of the party in the run-up to the 2028 presidential election, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on the latest episode of “Pod Force One.”
Cruz, who ran for president in 2016 and admits he still has White House ambitions, told host Miranda Devine that he expects a competitive and full-fledged primary process to determine the best Republican to succeed President Trump.
“I think we are going to have a full and vigorous primary and discussion,” the Texas Republican said, when asked about the possibility of Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio being anointed to take the mantle from Trump.
“I think the voters are going to decide who are we and what do we believe, and that matters,” Cruz continued. “And President Trump is a unique historical figure. I’m going to say right now, there is no Donald Trump on the horizon to succeed [him].”
Cruz repeatedly indicated that he won’t discuss the possibility of a clash between himself and Vance or Rubio until after the midterms.
“There will be plenty of time to have these conversations,” he told Devine. “We are less than two months out from the midterm election. This is the most consequential midterm I’ve ever seen in my life.”
The senator, however, did weigh-in on the type of candidate Democrats might nominate – and warned that there is a “very real danger” a far-left radical could be sitting in the Oval Office come 2029.
Full Episode
“I think the Democrat Party has gotten radical and extreme, but what’s dangerous is radical and extreme can win,” Cruz said.
Every week, Post columnist Miranda Devine sits down for exclusive and candid conversations with the most influential disruptors in Washington on ‘Pod Force One.’ Subscribe here!
“I don’t want to wake up in two years and find a radical, left-wing zealot in the White House, and I think there’s a very real danger of that,” he warned, while adding that someone like Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat who is often described as a centrist, has no shot at winning the party’s nomination.
On the GOP side, Cruz explained that “as a party, we’re going to have a discussion … I think voters are going to say, ‘All right, who’s got the backbone, who has the strength, who has the record to continue this?’”
“And no one’s going to step into [Trump’s] shoes, but we’ve got to keep winning … and who can produce it?”
Cruz said the debate taking place within the GOP is about both foreign policy and economics.
“Economically, are we a small government, free market conservative party? Or are we a big government nanny state party?” he said.
“And related to that, on foreign policy, are we an isolationist party? Do we want to just withdraw from the world? Or do we believe in American leadership in the world?”
