Donald Trump\u2019s perfect vice president looks the part: attractive and telegenic. They are ideally Black or a woman, though that\u2019s not required. And they are most certainly not taller than Trump himself.<\/p>\n
Trump wants someone he sees in person but doesn\u2019t see too much, his advisers say. He does not necessarily want a successor as the leader of the MAGA movement; he would prefer that the Republican Party duke it out for his endorsement in four years, one adviser said. He wants a No. 2 who has won in the past. And he wants someone who will never contradict his false claims about the outcome of the 2020 election.<\/p>\n
But more than anything, he wants someone who can help him win.<\/p>\n
At least a dozen people are under consideration for the job, one top Trump adviser told The Washington Post. That list is \u201cgrowing, not shrinking,\u201d and Trump keeps adding names, said the adviser, who, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations.<\/p>\n
Who is in and out depends on the day. Trump has fixated in some conversations on J.D. Vance, four people close to the campaign say. Trump\u2019s allies have also discussed Republican Govs. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, Kristi L. Noem of South Dakota and Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas; Sens. Katie Boyd Britt (R-Ala.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) \u2014 who several allies have been quick to note \u201clooks the part\u201d \u2014 Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.); Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.); and Kari Lake, a MAGA star who lost Arizona\u2019s gubernatorial race in 2022.<\/p>\n
Trump has even floated Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s name to guests on the patio at Mar-a-Lago, although his advisers decry that idea. He could may still pick a political newcomer \u2014 perhaps someone from the business world.<\/p>\n
He certainly won\u2019t pick Mike Pence.<\/p>\n
But Trump is nowhere near making up his mind, and seems in no hurry to do so, according to five people close to him. He watches TV and judges potential candidates carefully \u2014 not only what they say, but also their body language and whether they seem confident and convincing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is my Cary Grant?\u201d Trump repeatedly asks.<\/p>\n
He has met with vice-presidential aspirants at Mar-a-Lago and pitted them against one another. After speaking to some of the country\u2019s wealthiest Republican donors on Saturday night, Trump surprised his guests by introducing Burgum, Scott and investor Vivek Ramaswamy, and offering each of them the opportunity to speak.<\/p>\n
Holding a semipublic competition to determine his vice president \u2014 and waiting until the last minute to make his choice \u2014 will play to the former president\u2019s advantage, Trump adviser Jason Miller has argued. All the would-be candidates will work hard for Trump, and Trump and his team will have more time to assess their strengths and weaknesses, Miller has told others in Trump\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n
Knowing Trump likes reality TV, Miller has suggested the campaign build suspense and drama around his selection.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is \u2018The Apprentice: 2024 version,\u2019\u201d said Terry Sullivan, a Republican consultant who managed Rubio\u2019s 2016 presidential bid. \u201cDonald Trump is nothing if not a showman, and he loves this process and he\u2019s going to drag it out and get as much media coverage and goodwill and leverage it as much as humanly possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that \u201canyone claiming to know who or when President Trump will choose his VP is lying, unless the person is named Donald J. Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s vice-presidential pick will be one of his most important decisions ahead of the November election. Most voters already have strong views about Trump, and he has suggested that his choice of running mate \u201cwon\u2019t have any impact at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he is 77, and if he wins, he would be the oldest president inaugurated. Under the Constitution, he can serve only one more term, making whomever he chooses a favorite to succeed him as the leader of the MAGA movement.<\/p>\n
Yet becoming Trump\u2019s running mate has proved to be a high-reward, high-risk endeavor. Pence served Trump loyally for four years \u2014 to the point of obsequiousness \u2014 before Trump turned on him over his refusal to overturn the 2020 election results. The Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol endangered Pence and his family, as some rioters chanted \u201cHang Mike Pence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pence launched his own presidential bid last year, saying Trump was no longer qualified for the presidency after Jan. 6, and has pointedly refused to endorse him.<\/p>\n
Asked whether being Trump\u2019s vice president carries political risk, Pence adviser Marc Short replied: \u201cThat question answers itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2016 our party was very divided, and I think that choosing Pence gave assurance to many conservatives about Trump\u2019s candidacy,\u201d Short said. \u201cI don\u2019t think Trump needs a VP pick to consolidate the party. He has consolidated the party. I don\u2019t think he needs somebody in the same way to navigate Washington because he\u2019s very comfortable communicating in various ways with elected Republicans \u2026 I\u2019m not sure that the role would be the same the second time around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chris Christie, who was runner-up to become Trump\u2019s running mate in 2016, expects Trump to drag the process out but eventually select a yes-man.<\/p>\n
\u201cJob number one is a sycophant,\u201d Christie said. \u201cJob number two is whatever he believes is the best political advantage on the day he makes the decision. Not the day before, not the day after.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christie said that in 2016, Trump was worried about securing the support of evangelical voters and rock-ribbed conservatives. This time, he is more concerned about his own future, Christie said, and finding someone who won\u2019t defy him.<\/p>\n
Trump has praised recent television appearances by Rubio and Sanders, who was once his White House press secretary. Rubio has generated significant interest among Trump\u2019s advisers.<\/p>\n
The former president has polled advisers, donors and even Mar-a-Lago Club members on Noem but has also questioned whether she has too much \u201cbaggage.\u201d Some of his closest advisers were put off recently when she appeared to film an infomercial-style video for a Texas dental clinic that fixed her teeth.<\/p>\n
The Noem team has provided the Trump campaign with data that shows she outperforms other potential vice-presidential candidates in the battleground states, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Ian Fury, a spokesperson for Noem, said she had a \u201cfantastic conversation\u201d with Trump last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the media frets over the VP pick \u2014 she\u2019s focused on continuing to deliver wins for the people of South Dakota and doing anything she can to help Trump get reelected,\u201d Fury said.<\/p>\n
A knock against Lake, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona, is that she did not win her 2022 gubernatorial race, according to three Trump advisers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s genuinely conflicted on several ideas,\u201d Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said. \u201cHe\u2019ll mention a few names, but he\u2019s more thinking about: Can you be president, and can you help me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vice-presidential aspirants are auditioning not only during visits at Mar-a-Lago, but also in appearances at fundraisers and on the campaign trail, and on cable news. Several have posted about Trump or emailed about him dozens of times this year, incorporating his name in their messaging.<\/p>\n
Trump advisers said almost every candidate named in this article has visited Mar-a-Lago at least once in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
In interviews, people close to the potential contenders hinted at striking a balance between aggressively defending Trump, while also not appearing too eager, and often pointed to rivals as counterexamples.<\/p>\n
A person close to Sanders said she is in her dream job but noted she\u2019s already vetted and stressed her loyalty to Trump. (Trump advisers said he was hurt that Sanders didn\u2019t endorse him until a November rally in Hialeah, Fa.). A person close to Vance said, \u201cEverything he\u2019s doing right now to help Trump he would be doing whether he was mentioned as a possibility for VP.\u201d (Trump endorsed Vance in the 2022 Senate Republican primary in Ohio, clearing his path to the nomination.)<\/p>\n
Scott, who launched a White House bid last year but dropped out in November and is the only Black Republican in the Senate, has made dozens of cable news appearances on behalf of Trump since he endorsed the former president ahead of the New Hampshire primary. Trump has stated both privately and in public that Scott did a better job advocating for him than he did for his own failed White House bid.<\/p>\n
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who met with Trump recently and has encouraged him to pick Scott, said the former president isn\u2019t offering any hints.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can be very transparent,\u201d Cramer said. \u201cBut if it\u2019s a secret he wants to keep, he\u2019s really good at keeping them. And this is not one where he\u2019s tipped at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
If 2016 is any indication, Trump will wait until the last minute to make a decision. Christie, who was the runner-up for the job, said he did not know until the final days that Trump would not be giving him the nod. He received the news in a particularly jarring fashion, when he was alerted by the head of his security detail that Pence was flying into Teterboro, a private airport in New Jersey, he said.<\/p>\n
He called Trump, who denied making a final decision. Trump told him to immediately turn on Fox News, where he called into Greta Van Susteren\u2019s show at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin, like, 30 seconds, Greta says, \u2018We have a special guest calling in by phone. It\u2019s the soon-to-be Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump. Mr. Trump thank you for coming on,\u2019\u201d Christie recalled. \u201cHe basically says, \u2018I\u2019m down to Christie and Pence, and I hadn\u2019t made any final decision, no matter what anyone tells you.\u2019 And he calls me back. \u2018You see? I haven\u2019t made a choice.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Christie said he told Trump he didn\u2019t believe him because Pence would not fly from Indiana to New Jersey to lose the faceoff. The next morning, Trump called him to say he was picking Pence.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said to me, Chris, look, you\u2019ve got to admit, Pence is right out of central casting,\u201d Christie said.<\/p>\n
Isaac Arnsdorf, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Jeremy Merrill contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Donald Trump\u2019s perfect vice president looks the part: attractive and telegenic. They are ideally Black or a woman, though that\u2019s not required. And they are most certainly not taller than Trump himself. Trump wants someone he sees in person but doesn\u2019t see too much, his advisers say. He does not necessarily want a successor as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}