Donald Trump would consider some of his primary opponents as vice-presidential possibilities: In a Fox News interview, the former president said some of the people running against him are potential running mates.
Donald Trump and that Vice Presidental Pick
The 2024 Republican presidential contest is like no other in history: There’s one clear frontrunner, while most of the other people running are not particularly eager to challenge him. There are exceptions, but many candidates seem to believe that going against Trump isn’t the way to gain traction in the Republican Party of today.
This has led to speculation that some of those candidates are really running for vice president.
In a Fox News interview Sunday, Donald Trump was asked if he would consider any of his primary opponents as potential vice presidential or cabinet picks in a potential second Trump presidency.
“I think you have some good people on the stage actually. I think you have some very talented people. I’ve been impressed by some of them, some of them I’m very friendly with actually,” Trump said in the interview, per USA Today. He specifically praised Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott, who are both among his opponents.
“I think he’s a very good guy. We did opportunity zones together … Tim is very good,” Trump said of Scott. “I mean, I could see Tim doing something with the administration, but he’s right now campaigning, and I’m sure Tim and everybody else would say I’m only interested in one, but Tim is a very talented guy and you have other very talented people.
Ramaswamy did say last week that he does not plan to be vice president or join the cabinet.
“I will be helpful to this country in whatever way I can, but I would not be number two or member of an administration,” Ramaswamy said on the radio host of Buck Sexton. “I just don’t think that’s the right way for me to make the maximal positive impact on this country.”
Nikki Haley, who served in the first Trump Administration and is running for president, has also been mentioned often as a potential running mate.
Trump also claimed in the interview that some of his opponents have called him and asked to his running mate.
It’s pretty clear who does not have much of a chance at being Trump’s running mate. The former president has bitterly clashed with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, so he is almost certainly out, nor is there much chance that Mike Pence, Trump’s running mate in 2016 and 2020, would ever serve him again (Pence, when he was chosen in 2016, had not been a presidential candidate, although he is now.)
Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson, both former governors, have spent their campaigns so far criticizing Trump, so they are likely out as well; Christie failed to get a role in the first Trump Administration, despite being a loyal endorser and adviser during the 2016 race.
A Washington Post analysis earlier this month went through potential Trump running mates for 2024. Among those listed included former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, Arkansas Gov., former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) as “base/loyalty plays.”
It also listed “(more) pragmatic” choices like Scott, Haley, Rep. Elise Stefanik, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, DeSantis, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, although that story was published before Trump ripped Reynolds for not endorsing him.
The Pos also listed such “unlikely filers” as Miami Mayor (and presidential candidate) Francis Suarez, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Rep. Byron Donalds, and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, as well as Ramaswamy, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Lake has made it clear in recent months that she would like to be Trump’s choice, although it would appear unlikely that the former president would choose someone who has never held public office before and who lost her most high-profile past race. And she, like Trump, has claimed to have won a race that she lost.
Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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