2024-03-31T14:22:02+00:00
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/ The American website Politico confirmed on Sunday that aides to former US President Donald Trump are examining potential candidates for the position of vice president at the Mar-a-Lago resort, where the Republican candidate is putting forward an expanded list of names in private conversations.
Susie Wells, a senior Trump adviser, is leading a rough process to narrow down the list of about a dozen Republican lawmakers and other figures under consideration, according to several people familiar with the process.
The campaign has already hired an outside company to vet candidates and prepare research documents.
Former First Lady Melania Trump, who influenced Trump’s decision to pick Mike Pence in 2016, has stayed in the loop.
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., said he talks to his father frequently about who the contender is.
Swinging from top to bottom and changing seemingly by the minute, the list included everyone from Tim Scott and Kristi Noem to Byron Donalds, Elise Stefanik, Tulsi Gabbard and J.D. Vance, whom Trump described as a “fighter.”
Although he says he does not think the vice president is that important, he regularly asks guests at his Mar-a-Lago club for their opinions on various options, with a penchant for intrigue, and limits his options to private meetings and the media. The process is expected to take months.
Trump’s criterion for choosing his vice president
Trump said his highest standard is to choose someone who “would be a good president in an emergency.”
The names under consideration are still in flux, according to several people familiar with the list, who described it as written “in pencil.”
But it includes Senators Scott of South Carolina, Vance of Ohio, Katie Britt of Alabama, and Marco Rubio of Florida, in addition to Cabinet members. Noem of South Dakota, Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, and Doug Burgum of North Dakota.
Donalds, the Florida representative, and Gabbard, the former Hawaii representative, among others, are also under consideration or have been floated by Trump.
Guessing
Trump appears to be enjoying the guessing game – which has continued since he announced his third run for the White House in November 2022, but has intensified since he won the nomination in March.
During a private meeting several weeks ago in Palm Beach, Florida, he ran through a list of potential candidates with visitors, including a member of Congress, offering commentary on each. He praised Stefanik and Gabbard, according to a person familiar with the conversation who requested anonymity to speak freely. He was dismissive of Scott, noting that the senator may not be up to the job of president, if necessary.
However, in a sign of his inconsistency, Trump spoke favorably of Scott last week, according to a person familiar with a private conversation with the former president. A spokesman for Scott declined to comment.
“He’ll ask you about people,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville said in an interview.
Familiar names
The senator warned that those names promoted by Trump’s allies or political advisors should be treated with skepticism. “All I can tell you is, if you hear any names, it’s not these names. It’s all propaganda.”
The former football coach said all the names floating around sound familiar: “Like football coaches, when there’s a job opening, my agent always puts my name out there to get a raise, get publicity and all that.” Tuberville echoed the views of Trump’s advisers, who expressed alarm at some of the advisers’ behind-the-scenes maneuverings.
Kellyanne Conway, a former senior adviser to Trump in the White House, suggested that Trump choose someone who can help him win and govern, and not be a distraction as he tries to expand his reach to minority voters, women and political independents. Specifically, she said Trump should choose someone who can talk about abortion “with conviction and compassion” and articulate what it means to be a “pro-life Republican” versus a “pro-choice Democrat” in 2024.
“Unlike Democrats who are stuck with a very unpopular president and vice president, Trump has an embarrassment of riches in terms of who he can pick,” Conway said in an interview.
She added that when Trump considers vice president, he also thinks about appointing people to other senior positions in a potential administration: “Vice president is the most important decision, but it’s broadly focused on staff everywhere.”
fighter
Trump Jr. said last week that he talks to his father frequently about the vice presidential selection process and pushes him to choose a “fighter.”
He implicitly criticized Trump’s former Vice President, Pence, who refused to support efforts to overturn the 2020 election.