Donald Trump Just Told Ari Emanuel He’s Excited about a Vance-Rubio Ticket in 2028

Donald Trump doesn’t want to stay in the White House past 2028, Ari Emanuel says — he’s too excited about JD Vance and Marco Rubio coming in instead. “I spoke to him three weeks ago,” the TKO chief told Rachel Maddow at New York’s 92Y Tuesday night, describing a call with the president about the federal tax credit. “And in that conversation…he thought JD and Marco Rubio would be a formidable group.” You mean as a joint ticket (presumably with Vance at the top), Maddow asked? “Yes,” Emanuel said. “That’s what he thought.” The best cable-news show Tuesday night wasn’t on the air. It was inside the New York venue, as Maddow interviewed her agent on the day of his memoir’s release, and despite their association repeatedly held his feet to the fire on a range of political and cultural topics. The (unstreamed) conversation went from convivial to feisty to testy and back again, as Emanuel sought to convince the audience, only sometimes successfully, that his friendliness with the White House and oligarchs like Elon Musk was for the greater good. Related Stories Business Paramount-Warner Bros. Settlement to Be Considered at Thursday Court Hearing TV Kara Swisher Says She's Leaving CNN, Calls Ellisons "Terrible Media Owners"

“I don’t think it’s productive to say I’ve never changed him,” Emanuel said of Musk. “I do think I’ve changed him a little.” (Emanuel is notably friendly with Elon Musk, his company even investing in Musk’s Twitter.)

Emanuel’s Roll the Calls tracks his time from a young apprentice in the CAA mailroom to his current status, at 65, atop the agency and UFC-WWE heap, with all the rage he (proudly) unleashed to get there.

But at the event he showed a cannier side, one willing to play nice with power, as Emanuel praised moguls like David Ellison — whom the agent very publicly supported in his successful bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. Though Emanuel allowed that he didn’t like how Paramount’s Stephen Colbert cancelation went down, he pointed to how Ellison has “let Matt and Trey do what they’re doing, and Jon do what he’s doing,” referring to South Park and The Daily Show , which regularly take aim at the president. “That’s like a cop pulling you over and you saying ‘look at all the people in the crosswalk I didn’t hit!’” Maddow said. “I appreciate the metaphor but I disagree with you,” Emanuel replied, as he talked up the (much-eyerolled ) oversight board charged with ensuring CBS News and CNN independence. “Do you worry about compliant billionaires taking over media?” Maddow asked. “You’re getting most of your news from your phone and social media,” Emanuel said, avoiding the question. Maddow was not done, noting how Ellison has “tanked the [CBS] morning show, the nightly news and is deep-frying 60 Minutes .” She called “the CBS News and 60 Minutes situation under Ellison” an “embarrassment.” She said she knew that for Emanuel there were “business reasons [to support the mogul] — he paid $8 billion to get UFC rights.” ‘ “7.4,” Emanuel corrected.