President Donald Trump worked his way through two other men’s looks before he got to his own vice president, and he saved his most favorable review for a fourth.
Trump, 80, praised Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio ahead of Vice President JD Vance when Miranda Devine, host of the New York Post’s “Pod Force One,” asked him to name the best-looking member of his administration, in an exchange that became public Nov. 2, 2026, the eve of the Tuesday, Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Devine gave him four names to choose from — Vance, Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Hegseth. “Who is the best-looking member of your administration?” she asked. Trump saw the trap coming. “You’re going to get me in big trouble when you ask me those questions,” he said.
He said all of his young Cabinet members are attractive, then narrowed the field. “Pete’s a good-looking guy,” he said of Hegseth. He turned next to Rubio, 55. “I’ll tell you what,” Trump said, “Marco’s really a great hot politician in the sense that he’s done great.”
Vance came third, and in fewer words. “JD, the same thing,” Trump said. “They’re all doing great.” He spent more time on Bessent, whom he called “central casting.” “If I was going to do a movie on the Treasury, I’d pick him for the lead,” Trump said, before closing the subject: “They’re all good.”
The ranking landed in the middle of a 2028 guessing game Trump himself keeps feeding. He has repeatedly floated a Vance-Rubio ticket, a pairing the vice president has described in less certain terms. Vance told journalist Mark Halperin on “2WAY TONIGHT” on Oct. 19 that he expects Trump’s endorsement if he runs.
The next day, at the Oval Office announcement of the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, which pays tipsters a 1% commission on fraud their tips help uncover, Trump declined to commit to endorsing him. “It’s early, very early right now. We have to get through the midterms,” the president said.
“I Looked at His Hands”
The podcast capped a stretch of Trump grading candidates’ physiques out loud. He had repeatedly insulted Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton’s appearance before his remarks about Ohio Sen. Jon Husted at an Oct. 12 rally in Youngstown, Ohio.
“I watched up and down. I looked at his a–, and I looked at the whole—and then I looked at his hands,” Trump told supporters, saying Husted has a “great a–.” Husted, a former All-American defensive back at the University of Dayton, lost his seat to Democrat Sherrod Brown on Nov. 3. Trump complimented MAGA rapper Nicki Minaj’s body at a campaign rally.
The Housing Question He Skipped
Vance, 42, got the question at a Fox News town hall in Texas on Thursday, Oct. 29, when host Jesse Watters, 48, raised the president’s running commentary on Husted. “Well, first of all, I’m jealous; the president has never said that about me,” Vance answered, laughing, and suggested he might head back to the gym. He described the president as a comedian by nature who likes to liven up an audience.
The same town hall produced a question about affordability. Vance quipped that he was surprised more people weren’t asking him about Husted’s derriere — before proceeding to answer the question. A clip circulated on X, where viewers mocked it as weird.
Voters told pollsters they were focused elsewhere. A Gallup poll released Oct. 29 found half of registered voters called the economy and healthcare extremely important to their vote, and 47% said the same of the war in Iran. Roughly four in 10 pointed to income and wealth distribution at 44%, gas prices at 42%, immigration at 40% and abortion at 38%. A Pew Research Center survey in early October put the economy at 84% of registered voters calling it very important. Republicans went into the voting squeezed by elevated gas prices, the war in Iran and a cost of living crisis. Democrats now control both the House and the Senate.
A Second Dan Sullivan on the Ballot
Alaska produced the strangest race of the cycle. Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola faced a report that her campaign helped recruit a second Dan Sullivan onto the ballot, apparently to confuse voters looking for Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Peltola said she had no knowledge of any other candidates on the ballot and no interest in deceiving voters, and she called the story a diversion from issues such as affordability. On Election Day, the Justice Department sent target letters to Democratic lawyer Marc Elias and others in a criminal probe of the second Sullivan’s candidacy. The race had not been called as of Wednesday, Nov. 4, and the state will tabulate ranked-choice votes on Nov. 18 if no candidate wins a majority.
Ohio GOP governor nominee Vivek Ramaswamy ran an ad featuring Democrat Amy Acton’s mother criticizing her. His campaign defended it at first, then discontinued it, reportedly after spending only a fraction of what it initially announced.
Michigan Democrat Haley Stevens lost her Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed, endorsed him, then backed Republican nominee Mike Rogers after El-Sayed refused to address her worries and those of her constituents. Stevens pointed to some of his positions, his ties to Hasan Piker, his ads with Tucker Carlson and his failure to condemn an ad blaming Israel for the high price of groceries. Her fiancé, Jason Turkish, has said he is voting for Rogers.
On Friday, Oct. 30, Stevens urged El-Sayed to more forcefully condemn an outside group’s ad criticizing US aid to Israel. El-Sayed said he did not agree with the content of the ad. His campaign told Stevens to stay away from its campaign events, according to a person familiar. She tweeted her endorsement of Rogers on Sunday, Nov. 1, with a church appearance alongside him set.
A Split Screen With Elvis
Trump spent part of that same Sunday on his own looks. He posted a split-screen image on Truth Social lining up the right side of his face with the right side of Elvis Presley’s, and noted that others had pointed out the resemblance to him for years. He had posted a similar comparison in February 2024.
A New York Times poll released the same day showed Democrats leading in all seven key Senate races, including an 11-point lead in Michigan.