Just eight months after President Trump picked JD Vance to be his vice president, Vance is already positioned to be MAGA's heir apparent for 2028, Axios' Alex Thompson and Marc Caputo write.

• "I think it's inevitable at this point that Vance will be the [GOP] nominee in 2028," Sen. Jim Banks (R-Indiana), a close Trump ally, tells Axios. "He's the future of the America First movement and he's already proven himself."

Why it matters: Many of Trump's longest-serving aides and most fervent supporters now see the vice president as the vehicle to lock in Trump's worldview for at least the next decade.

• In their view, Trump broke the old Republican Party — and Vance can finish building the new one.

Vance has won over Trump's base with combative public performances, by savvily managing relationships with Trump's team, and by showing unwavering fealty to Trump's vision.

• Vance's dressing down of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office was criticized on both sides of the Atlantic and even by some Republicans. But picking the fight drew cheers from the Trump faithful.
• Vance's pugilistic speech at the Munich Security Conference offended many European leaders — but enthralled Republicans back home who liked the tough talk.

A person close to Donald Trump Jr. — who has been a key Vance validator going back to Vance's 2022 Senate race in Ohio — told Axios the president's son is "over the moon with JD's performance so far, and feels completely vindicated for spending his political capital last summer pushing his dad to pick Vance as vice president."

• Vance has also impressed financial moguls in Trump's orbit.

🗳️ At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February, Vance easily won a straw poll of potential 2028 GOP nominees with 61%. Steve Bannon — an official in Trump's first White House, who now presides over the powerful "War Room" podcast — came in a distant second with 12%.

• Jim McLaughlin, the pollster who conducted the survey, said Vance won because he's "viewed as the closest thing to Donald Trump."

🎧 Vance also has enjoyed a boost from the growing MAGA media sphere of podcasts and influencers.

• Matt Boyle, Washington bureau chief for Trump-friendly Breitbart News, said that when it comes to 2028, "Vance is clearly the far, runaway frontrunner, and no one else can hold a candle to him right now."
• "He's also been very smart about developing strong relationships with a lot of the MAGA America First OG's, and with Congress in passing President Trump's agenda and confirming the president's Cabinet," Boyle added.

MAGA media star Jack Posobiec, who has many ties with Trump administration figures and traveled with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine, regularly refers to Vance as "48" — the 48th president.

• Vance, 40, is a digital native — and, in some ways, a more natural online fit than his boss.

🥊 Reality check: Even some Vance boosters concede he doesn't have the showmanship that made Trump a reality TV star and political phenomenon.

• Some Democratic strategists scoff at the idea that Vance — who'd been in the Senate for just 18 months when Trump picked him for VP — could be a successful national candidate.

🐊 The intrigue: The early enthusiasm for Vance has put a target on his back. Some in Vance's orbit are keeping an eye on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former Trump rival.

• DeSantis now has a good relationship with Trump — which some have interpreted as an effort by the president to keep potential Vance rivals around, so the vice president doesn't get too comfortable.
• "This president will never be a lame duck and he won't be treated like one," said one Trump adviser. "So if I had to guess, DeSantis acts as a little bit of a buffer."

🔭 The big picture: Some Trump aides and allies see the Yale Law-educated Vance as the brainy version of MAGA.

• While Trump is a blunt-force object, they see Vance as a writerly intellectual who will personally compose his 20-paragraph posts on X.
• But they hope his wonkiness will foster wider validation of Trump's worldview.

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Top MAGA-world figures are leaning into a fight with the judicial system over the constitutionality of President Trump's deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members, Axios MAGA media expert Tal Axelrod writes.

Why it matters: A federal district judge ruled that flights carrying the migrants to El Salvador had to be turned around — an order the White House says had "no lawful basis."

• MAGA podcasters have been adamant that the judge was in the wrong, indicating an appetite among Trump's base to lean into what could turn into a major showdown with the judicial branch.

🎙️ "I think there ought to be a much broader swath of impeachments" of federal judges, Steve Bannon said on his "War Room" podcast. "We have to fight fire with fire. ... They want to slow the Trump administration's flood-the-zone."

• Jack Posobiec said on his own show: "Immigration under national security concerns is obviously an area where number one, the judiciary, and particularly these district judges, have gone completely overboard."
• Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of "The Charlie Kirk Show," said on the podcast: "Essentially, it puts the Democrats in a place where they have to say: 'Well, we're defending criminal gang members.'"

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Israel resumed the war in Gaza with a series of massive airstrikes against what it described as Hamas targets all across the enclave overnight, Axios' Barak Ravid writes.

• Why it matters: The strikes come exactly two months after the signing of the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal that the Biden administration brokered with the help of the incoming Trump administration.

Last week, the Trump administration tried to extend the ceasefire and presented a proposal to the parties. But the talks in Doha ended without a breakthrough.

• The airstrikes began around 2 a.m. local time. The Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet domestic security agency said in a joint statement that they started attacking numerous Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

Two Israeli officials told Axios that Israel notified the Trump administration in advance of the airstrikes and briefed it on the objectives.

• Keep reading.

The trade war is already expected to increase inflation and dampen growth — and it could get even worse if tariffs rise more, Axios' Ben Berkowitz writes from new economic projections.

• The OECD modeled a scenario where the U.S. raises tariffs another 10%, and all other countries respond with a similar counter-tariff.

Three years out, all major economies and economic areas would see lower growth than they would have otherwise — with the biggest impacts to Mexico and the U.S.

• Get Axios Markets.

President Trump recorded a video for social media in which he urges unauthorized immigrants to "self-deport" — and use a newly launched app to report that they're leaving the U.S., Axios' Alex Isenstadt has learned.

• Why it matters: The 90-second video — set to appear on Instagram, X, YouTube and Rumble — is part of a broader advertising campaign aimed at encouraging such immigrants to leave before U.S. officials arrest them.

The effort comes as Trump's push to deport "millions and millions" of unauthorized immigrants is facing a lack of funds, detention space, officers and infrastructure.

• Pinched for such resources, Trump's team has used tough talk to try to get such immigrants to leave the U.S. — or never come here.
• In his video ad, Trump warns immigrants that if they have any hopes of eventually becoming U.S. citizens, they should register with the CBP app and leave now.

💡 Reality check: It's unclear whether many undocumented immigrants will have enough faith in the administration's program to voluntarily risk deportation by providing information that, theoretically, could be used against them if they returned to the U.S. seeking legal entry.

• Keep reading.

🍿 OUT TODAY! Alex Isenstadt's deeply reported book, "Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power." Get it here!

China continues to raise the bar on electric vehicles: BYD unveiled a new EV platform that can be recharged about as fast as it takes to refuel a gasoline car, Axios automotive expert Joann Muller writes.

• Why it matters: Making EV charging as painless as visiting a gas station is one less hurdle for consumers, and could help spur widespread EV adoption.

🖼️ The big picture: The system — which the company claims can provide nearly 300 miles of driving range in 5 minutes — is a further sign of the growing dominance of BYD, while onetime EV leader Tesla's fortunes wane both in China and the rest of the world.

• "Tesla has definitely moved from leader to laggard in EV battery and charging technology," said Matt Teske, founder and CEO of Chargeway, a startup aiming to simplify EV charging.

⚡ Joann's new weekly newsletter — Axios Future of Mobility — launches tomorrow with exclusive and original reporting on the global trends upending the automotive industry. Sign up here!

Apple is releasing a new iPhone 17 "Air" that will be about a fifth thinner than current devices, Bloomberg's Apple expert Mark Gurman writes (gift link).

• Why it matters: The new model amounts to "a new beginning for the iPhone."

Gurman writes that Apple re-engineered the inner workings of the iPhone to avoid the worse battery life that would normally accompany a skinnier device.

• It will represent "the beginning of a sea change for Apple" that could eventually include an iPhone without a charging port.

🎧 Also from Apple: The company is "planning a new AirPods feature that allows the earbuds to live-translate an in-person conversation into another language," Gurman reports.

Parts of the U.S. will gain three hours or more of daylight between Thursday's spring equinox and the summer solstice on June 20, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick writes.

• Northern latitudes gain more daylight in the spring compared to areas closer to the equator.

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