Every argument about 2028 assumes Republicans are picking a favorite between Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Not so. They’re deciding whether the party is still an instrument for governing or has become a monument to whoever built it last. I’ll say directly what most Republicans won’t: Rubio is better built to run it than Vance, and voters deserve a real primary to test that, not a coronation.

Say that out loud, and two objections come fast. First: this is establishment cope, insiders protecting themselves. That doesn’t survive contact with Rubio’s record — he ran against President Donald Trump in 2016, lost, and MAGA still handed him the State Department. Second: not supporting Vance means abandoning Trump. Wrong. Trump became president in 2016 by forcing a primary fight on an establishment that expected a coronation. Wanting the same test for his successor isn’t disloyalty. It’s the most Trump-shaped thing a Republican could ask for.