Associated Press
As former President Donald Trump remains stuck in the courtroom listening to salacious details of an affair he denies, another spectacle is playing out in the background as his Vice Presidential tryouts get underway.
The dynamic was on full display over the weekend at a closed-door fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago club that doubled as an audition featuring a long list of potential running mates. Trump, at one point, invited many of the contenders on stage like contestants in one of his old beauty pageants. The next day several of them, including South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, South Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, fanned out across Sunday news shows to sing his praises.
“This weekend, we had 15 people… They’re all out there campaigning,” Trump told Spectrum News 1 Wisconsin on Tuesday. “It might actually be more effective this way because, you know, every one of them thinks they could be chosen, which I guess possibly is so.”
The comments demonstrate why Trump is in no rush to pick his potential second-in-command or publicly winnow his choices. For now, the presumptive GOP nominee is happy to revel in the attention as reporters parse his choices and prospective candidates jockey and woo him in an “Apprentice”-style competition.
Trump has said he intends to make an announcement shortly before July’s Republican National Convention, as he did when he picked then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence in 2016.
“In the end, it’s up to him. He will intuitively decide who should be his Vice President, and he’ll listen to everybody up until that moment and then he’ll decide,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, one of three finalists on Trump’s 2016 list.
For candidates, he said, if Trump calls and asks them to speak at a rally, “The correct answer’s ‘yes.’” But there are limits to their impact.
“Some of them try to audition,” Gingrich said, “but I never thought it worked that well.”
For now, according to several people familiar with his thinking, Trump continues to mull a long list of prospects: governors, senators and members of Congress, including some who ran against him and lost. The people spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the fundraiser and private conversations. As Trump mulls his decision, he is watching to see who can raise money, defend him effectively and perform at political events. He’s especially interested in how they come across on television.
Part of what seems to have made the decision harder is that many of the candidates under serious consideration have knocks against them.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, one potential top contender, could help Trump win over Hispanic voters as well as establishment donors still leery of a second Trump term. But Rubio has a problem: He lives in Florida, the same state as Trump, which would violate the Constitution’s Twelfth Amendment.
Trump himself has raised the issue, including at Saturday’s fundraising luncheon, where he said he liked Rubio, according to one of several people present, but noted the issue with his residency, calling it a problem.
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, a friend of Trump’s eldest son who has become close with the former President, is also considered a top contender. He impressed Trump allies with a CNN interview last week.
But Trump continues to note that Vance was a critic before he became a supporter — something he mentioned again at the Saturday event before praising Vance as a great senator.
Scott, whom Trump has repeatedly joked is a far better surrogate than a candidate, also has drawbacks. Scott pushed Trump to back a 15-week national abortion ban during the GOP primaries and his selection would draw new attention to something Trump has tried to eliminate as a campaign issue by insisting it should be left to the states.
Those issues could help a candidate like Burgum, a billionaire who has traveled extensively with Trump since he dropped his own presidential bid.
Others have seemed to test the limits of what it takes to be disqualified.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has faced a media storm since reports emerged that she she wrote about shooting a family dog to death in a book released this week. Noem has also been caught in errors, including falsely claiming that she once met North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. She has continued to appear in interviews defending her actions, drawing the storyline out for days.
Trump, in his Tuesday interview, continued to praise Noem, who at one point had been considered a top contender, though he acknowledged that “she had a rough couple of days, I will say that.”
Noem’s star, in fact, had been tarnished before the revelation of her dog killing amid questions about her judgment, including her decision to appear in an infomercial-style video lavishing praise on a team of cosmetic dentists in Texas.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, meanwhile, has also been the subject of negative headlines. A recent audit suggested that her office may have broken the law when it purchased a $19,000 lectern — a scandal dubbed “lecterngate” by some.
Sanders, who served as Trump’s Press Secretary at the White House, responded with Trumpian defiance, posting a 20-second video on X featuring the blue and wood-paneled lectern. The opening lyrics of Jay-Z’s “Public Service Announcement” played in the background and the words “come and take it” appeared on the screen.
Sanders may still face more questions, with an audit of her travel and security records pending. But her unapologetic response reinforced her image as an acolyte of the Trump brand.
“In the Trump era, what used to be a scandal is no longer a scandal and what used to be seen as a liability is not really as much of a liability,” said Kevin Madden, who was a senior adviser to former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. “Trump has an ability to block out the sun.”
Provocative comments that could have been a liability in past election cycles could also be assets for candidates like Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, who has urged the public to “take matters into your own hands” if they encounter pro-Palestinian protesters blocking traffic.
“Anyone claiming to know who or when President Trump will choose his VP is lying, unless the person is named Donald J. Trump,” senior campaign advisor Brian Hughes said in an emailed statement.
Trump continues to maintain publicly and privately that the “most important thing” in a potential pick is whether they would be a good president if called upon — and that he doesn’t think the choice is likely to change the trajectory of the race.
“VPs have never really helped in the election process,” he said Tuesday. “It’s a one-day story, it’s a big story, and then it’s back to work. They want to really know who’s No. 1 on the ticket.”
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
24 comments
Ocean Joe
May 8, 2024 at 9:56 am
Goebbels, Goering, and Mengele are unavailable so that narrows it down for him.
Impeach Biden
May 8, 2024 at 10:03 am
Really? So you going with Trump is a nazi? Is that what CNN, MSNBC, NPR, The View is telling the zombies?
Ocean Joe
May 8, 2024 at 4:16 pm
He kept a copy of Mein Kampf by his bed. He loves dictators because he never learned how government works other than bribing politicians. We have a magnificent set of checks and balances that the guy (whose sister (a federal judge) drove him around trying to find a college that would take him) either never understood or desires to avoid.
A nazi? No, probably not but the “very fine people on both sides” stuff and his (and Desantis) reluctance to ever criticize nazis indicates an affinity.
As for those candidates, as a wizard of PR, Trump probably idolizes Goebbels, the king of propaganda, the big lie. “They stole the election!!!!”
Ocean Joe
May 8, 2024 at 4:18 pm
He kept a copy of Mein Kampf by his bed. He loves dictators because he never learned how government works other than bribing politicians. We have a magnificent set of checks and balances that the guy either never understood or desires to avoid.
Who can forget the “very fine people on both sides” stuff he said about Charlotteville. You know, the folks who were chanting “Jews will not replace us.”
Ocean Joe
May 8, 2024 at 4:26 pm
IB, you could be right though…his grandfather allegedly fled Germany to avoid military service. Don’t know if they had bone spurs back then but the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Impeach Biden
May 8, 2024 at 8:01 pm
So what is Joe “Hidin” Biden’s excuse?
rick whitaker
May 8, 2024 at 11:04 pm
HOWLER MONKEY, you think trump and desantis are good and you think biden and harris are bad. that tells me you don’t know up from down , or your ass from a hole in the ground, shit from shinola, piss from beer, or clean from dirty. i know fact from fiction, just sums it all up for the description of your posts.
Impeach Biden
May 9, 2024 at 7:07 am
You are an old version of these wackos protesting on college campuses. Dumb like them. I imagine you were a potato peeler in the USN.
rick whitaker
May 10, 2024 at 10:47 pm
HOWLER MONKEY, i was stationed at little creek virginia. i was in the gator navy, no potato peeling. little creek is the navy seal base. when i was in the navy they didn’t use that term. back then, they called it udt or frogman. and yes, i am like the college protesters. i did it in 1971 in washington dc at the big anti- vietnam war protest. ist amendment rights you know. you maga types just don’t get it. the pro palestinian protesters are just following the constitution. don’t rights suck when others have them too? that’s where you are.
rick whitaker
May 10, 2024 at 9:02 pm
HOWLER MONKEY, you act like you were unaware that trump is a nazi. you must be the only one that doesn’t know. are you living under a rock?
ScienceBLVR
May 8, 2024 at 10:42 am
Doesn’t matter who Trumpie appears to be on the campaign trail or who his VP is.. because as Lennon said,
You can shine your shoes and wear a suit
You can comb your hair and look quite cute
You can hide your face behind a smile
One thing you can’t hide
Is when you’re crippled inside
You can wear a mask and paint your face
You can call yourself the human race
You can wear a collar and a tie
One thing you can’t hide
Is when you’re crippled inside
PeterH
May 8, 2024 at 11:35 am
Klown bus tour of do nothing buffoons!
Impeach Biden
May 8, 2024 at 1:55 pm
The biggest buffoon among many In Biden’s staff is his VP. Ka Mana
Wanna. We all know how she got there, right Willie?
Ocean Joe
May 8, 2024 at 4:21 pm
She was a pitiful choice. Almost as bad as Daddy Bush picking Dan Quayle. Sleeping with Willie didnt help as much as Biden owing repayment to Clyburn for delivering the SC primary. He boxed himself in, announcing he would picking a black woman, and then picking the wrong one.
Let’ not forget Spiro Agnew. Is he out of prison yet?
rick whitaker
May 13, 2024 at 4:36 pm
OJ, some florida people must hate vp’s, look what florida did to gore.
Dont Say FLA
May 8, 2024 at 2:13 pm
How will be Trump’s VP be selected?
Best (or Most) sociopathic tendencies story from their childhood?
Smelliest farter? (or perhaps non-smelliest due to upstaging Trump)
Loudest farter? (or perhaps quietest due to upstaging Trump)
The most convictions?
Slowest runner?
Biggest cup size?
Supple neck for ease of knot tying?
Shortest, for ease in constructing ad-hoc gallows?
Winner of a contest for the most times saying “yes sir” in 120 seconds?
Yelled at (or otherwise scared) the most kids in public?
Impeach Biden
May 8, 2024 at 2:33 pm
Again we know how Ka Manna Wanna got to the top. Or was she on the bottom.? What say you Willie?
ScienceBLVR
May 8, 2024 at 6:48 pm
So that thing with the VP and Willie ended in 1995. 30 years ago and it was enough to get her into the number 2 most powerful position in the world? Whoa Nellie she must have one powerful pu$&y! You go girl…
Dont Say FLA
May 9, 2024 at 12:05 pm
I don’t recall the situation, but its sure sound like she must have grabbed Willie by the p_55y.
Dont Say FLA
May 9, 2024 at 12:07 pm
IBS, if you’re suggesting that knob gobbling will be in play for the “Who wants to be Trumpy’s VP” contest, then I’d say Rhonda has a chance. He took a lot of balls to the chin in his college days and then he was in the navy where he sailed the seven seas in the navy where your job is to please in the navy, in the navy
My Take
May 8, 2024 at 6:41 pm
All to be Trumpy’s Mortimer Snerd.
Dont Say FLA
May 13, 2024 at 12:50 pm
Don’t care about his VP pick. Nobody does. Trump voters are in either still in love with Trump or their honeymoon is over. VP makes zero difference.
Rather than VP, because “who cares,” I’d like to know more about Trump’s proposed white nation. Could Trump pick which white nation he most wants the USA to be like?
As far I can tell, all existing white nations are pretty darned Socialist. Which one is Trump’s favorite? Which among the socialist nations of Northern Europe is the model for Trump’s delusions of white nationalism?
My Take
May 13, 2024 at 4:54 pm
Hungary may be white enough.
What does goulash taste like?
Or Russia.
Dont Say FLA
May 14, 2024 at 8:11 am
Oh right!
Geez, I skip the meds one day and there go the brain power from feeble to nada