Bacon fires back at Banks’s ‘LOL’ response to 2028 prospects

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) on Wednesday fired back at Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) for responding to a social media post about Bacon weighing a presidential run with “LOL,” or “laugh out loud.”

Politics & Poll Trackers , a nonpartisan social media account that tracks polls in upcoming elections, on Saturday shared The Hill’s story reporting Bacon is mulling a 2028 White House bid.

The same day, Banks shared the poll tracker’s post and wrote “LOL” in response .

“MANY have worked with Jim Banks over the last 10 years,” Bacon wrote on social media late Wednesday night. “He has an IQ and EQ of a BAKED potato. His moral compass is skewed to his political calculus at all times. His finger is always in the air… no moral compass. His finger always leans pro Russian.”

The Indiana senator responded in a conversation with The Washington Sun’s Igor Bobic, calling Bacon’s presidential ambitions “laughable.”

“Don Bacon has floated himself as a presidential candidate, which is laughable,” Banks told Bobic, who shared the response to his social media Thursday. “He’s a longtime irrelevant member of the House who has been an outspoken critic of President Trump, and he is so unpopular in his district that he couldn’t get reelected. So he’s quitting.”

Bacon last week said on the podcast “ Our Republican Legacy ” that he “would love to” run for president, and that he would also “be happy to be the right-hand man or left-hand man to someone else that has the same values.”

“I do definitely want to be on a team, whether I’m the lead or part of the team, fighting for these values for our country because I think the United States needs them and I think they’re looking for them,” the Nebraska congressman said.

Bacon is set to leave elected office at the end of the year, having declined to seek reelection in his House district. He first expressed interest in potentially running for president after announcing his retirement last year.

“If there’s an opportunity, and I can make a difference, a unique difference, I would like to keep serving,” he told NBC News at the time.

While no Republican has formally launched a bid for the GOP’s 2028 nod yet, multiple potential candidates — such as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and former Vice President Mike Pence — have already ruled out such a run.

Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been seen as potential heirs apparent to Trump after his second term ends in 2029. Rubio told Colombian news station RCN last week that he has “ no plans at this time ” to run in 2028, while Vance received chants of “48” while speaking at the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) Dallas midterm convention.

An Emerson College and The Hill survey released in August found that Rubio performed slightly better than Vance in five match-ups against Democrats. The sole match-up where both Trump administration officials lost was against former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.