With the pomp and pageantry of his official nomination just days away, Donald Trump's search for a running mate on the Republican presidential ticket is in the home stretch, with a trio of frontrunners jockeying to be first across the finish line.
The former US president is seeking a number two who can walk the delicate line between helping mobilize Trump's right-wing base and staying in lane as a sidekick who won't hog the limelight or, worse, prove more popular than the boss.
Trump is expected to make his choice public during next week's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, with an announcement anticipated as early as the opening day on Monday.
The billionaire appears to have zeroed in on two US senators, J.D. Vance of Ohio and Marco Rubio of Florida, as well as North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, who initially ran against Trump for the nomination before falling in line.
The calculus might yet change, as Trump told Fox News on Monday that he was weighing a "great bench" of prospects and had not made a decision.
"It's going to be a great vice president, meaning a person that can do a fantastic job as president, because you always have to think of that first," he said.
"And then, second, somebody that helps you get elected. And there's nothing wrong with that."
Ever the consummate showman, Trump has been ramping up the intrigue, sending out a "long list" of contenders early on and offering conflicting accounts of how far along he was in the selection process.
There was speculation that he might use his first public appearance in 11 days to announce Rubio as he addressed supporters at his Doral golf club, on the outskirts of Miami.
He namechecked the senator, who was in the front row, several times but was silent on his thinking for the veepstakes.
- Casting call -
Trump could have dropped his big reveal at any point in the days before Milwaukee, except that the news would have interrupted arguably one of the worst weeks in the career of his 81-year-old rival Joe Biden.
The veteran Democrat is facing calls to drop out of the race after a widely-panned debate performance against Trump raised questions about the mental capacity of America's oldest-ever president.
"The big danger right now is because all the attention is focused on Biden, that if you announce anything, it will get lost," Republican strategist Rob Burgess, who worked on the Trump 2016 and 2020 campaigns, told AFP.
One of the biggest factors for Trump will be his running mate's fund-raising prowess, and the contenders have all been under pressure to showcase their connections with wealthy mega-donors.
Meanwhile, the campaign has ensured that they are booked regularly for cable news interviews -- a kind of casting call that allows Trump to assess how they look in front of the cameras, a priority for the former reality TV star.
Trump said before the June 27 debate that he already knew who his running mate would be, noting that his pick would likely be attending that night.
The three frontrunners were all bused to the CNN studio in Atlanta along with some less-favored hopefuls to watch from a volleyball court before being sent in to pitch for Trump on the press line.
- Big role? -
Political analyst Donald Nieman said he expected Vance to get the nod as an articulate messenger for Trumpism who is seen as a draw for working class white men in the crucial swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
But he added that a less "thin-skinned" Trump might have been persuaded to go with Nikki Haley, a one-time UN ambassador who was his last-standing rival in the nominating contest.
"She would bring Republican defectors and suburban women to Trump -- something he needs," Nieman, a history professor at Binghamton University in New York state, told AFP.
"But he won't because she hasn't signaled abject loyalty and a willingness to submerge her own identity."
Haley, who says she is supporting Trump, has not been invited to the convention, according to Politico.
It remains to be seen in any case whether the successful candidate has what it takes to succeed where Mike Pence failed, and use the job as a springboard to the presidency.
"I'm not at all convinced that whoever Trump's vice president is, that he or she will have as significant a role as many of their predecessors," said constitutional expert Joel Goldstein, of Saint Louis University in Missouri.
"Although the vice president's role has grown, ultimately it depends upon the president's personality and his or her leadership style."
© 2024 AFP
24 Comments
dagon
Vance is someone who came from humble beginnings and rose up a level by the power of his pen but betrayed his Appalachian roots and working class people there to ascend to the much higher levels by becoming a mouthpiece for authoritarian conservatism and private equity acquisitiveness.
Similar to Bannon he is articulate, shameless, motivated and dangerous and would be quite the piece in a Trump agenda like a Goebbels.
dagon
Trump doesn't need to secure the evangelical base this time, its locked up, so it may be he tacks back to his fake promises to the working class like in 2016 as a strategy.
https://cardinalnews.org/2022/09/12/st-paul-lawyer-authors-book-that-says-j-d-vance-is-a-fake-hillbilly/
bass4funk
He absolutely did not betray his community or disavow his humble beginnings. Not sure where libs get that nonsense from.
Unlike Goebbels who killed people, why is it the left has to use the most extreme people who have no relation or bearing to the topic. But Bannon is formidable and that is what so many of us like about the guy, he is pushing for his American first agenda and I can't fault the guy for that. Any person that is passionate about putting American front and center has got my ear, respect and attention.
Nothing fake, but I do think so, this time he won't have Pelosi, Schumer or even Mitch to throw a monkey wrench into his plans to fix this country.
dagon
Low info there.
Vance is canny but his calculated MAGA turn may not convince that many. But in this day and age?
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2022/04/19/americas-hitler-old-j-d-vance-message-turns-up-in-heated-senate-primary/
dagon
Vance himself compared Trump to Hitler.
https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-once-thought-trump-could-become-americas-hitler-2022-4
bass4funk
Pretty much.
Got my vote.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4609730-vance-versus-mcconnell-defines-gop-ukraine-fight/
lincolnman
Given how much he thinks he is a "wonderful guy", my money is on Hannibal Lector...
But we all know Trump's "real" VP pick is already that "genius" Vladimir Putin...
bass4funk
He also said how he got Trump wrong, first time impressions from not knowing the guy, but as he states he was so so wrong about the man and came around. We all evolve especially politically and good on him. Love the guy.
Bob Fosse
If he was wrong about the guy, from his position as an insider and peer in US politics, imagine how wrong his supporters could be about him.
Maybe they’ll come around someday too.
bass4funk
Doubt it.
No need, we have seen and heard more than enough of him. Vance would make a great VP a few others as well. No swamp establishments this time.
lincolnman
Also known as "MAGA caving"...for another example see how abortion "evolved" from "life begins at conception period" to "murdering babies through the 15th week is fine"...
Any of our MAGA-friends here "evolve" on the COVID vaccine yet? Trump assured you it is "safe and it works"...
Bob Fosse
So you think someone who describes people ‘he doesn’t know’ as Hitler is just the kind of person you want for VP. I see.
Roger Gusain
Trump doesn't seem to be too popular on JT. But I am not sure that having a cadaver as president is a good idea either.
Wichi
Trump 2024!!
EvilBuddha
JD Vance for VP.
A Yale educated lawyer, and anyone who has read his autobiography 'Hillbilly Elegy' will understand his troubled childhood and upbringing. He is the one who can truly understand the issues plaguing the working class of Middle America, and Democrats should get ready for another embarrassment in the VP debates.
lincolnman
Can't wait for the annoucement....it will either be the guy that said about Trump; “My god what an idiot, I’m a Never Trump guy, I never liked him” Vance said in an interview with Charlie Rose in 2016. He also said Trump was “noxious” and “reprehensible.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/23/jd-vance-ohio-senate-trump-comments-516865
Vance expressed a similar sentiment in other interviews and since-deleted tweets from that time, including publicly mulling the idea of supporting Hillary Clinton, calling Trump
lincolnman
Or the guy that said of Trump; "He is a con artist," Rubio said. "He runs on this idea he is fighting for the little guy, but he has spent his entire career sticking it to the little guy — his entire career."
Rubio specifically pounced on Trump's hiring of foreign workers and his now-defunct Trump University, both examples Rubio cited here as he argued the billionaire is doing a "con job" on voters.
"He's going to Americans that are struggling, that are hurting, and he's implying, 'I'm fighting for you because I'm a tough guy,'" Rubio said. "A tough guy? This guy inherited $200 million. He's never faced any struggle."
Rubio added: "The other day, he told a protester, 'I'm going to punch you in the face.' Donald Trump has never punched anyone in the face. Donald Trump was the first guy that begged for Secret Service protection."
https://www.texastribune.org/2016/02/26/dallas-rubio-eviscerates-con-artist-trump/
He'd be better of sticking with Mike Pence....ROFL...
bass4funk
Why not? He said, he had a change of heart after he met the guy, dunno, conservatives are more forgiving.
bass4funk
Naw, but anyway, Interesting, liberals whine that Trump lives in the past, well, liberals do the same, it doesn’t matter what people said in the past, that’s dead and long gun. None of these people think that about Trump now.
lincolnman
Like life begins at conception?
So they were either lying before or are lying now....which is it?
bass4funk
No, more like consciously evolving.
?
Doesn’t matter what any of us think, what matters is who we are voting for and Biden is not one of them.
We went through this before.
Neither
lincolnman
ROFL...
Still believe life begins at conception?
Get your vaccine yet?
The answer?
OK, so they were telling the truth before...
Bob Fosse
I wouldn’t pigeonhole a whole group, we can’t speak for everybody, right?
Back to Vance, he either said something dumb and then backpedaled on it for his political ambition and/or threw his integrity out of the window for his political ambition.
Seems kind of swampy.
bass4funk
.
Already did
But answered that as well.
Libs do for some odd reason.
Thank you
I don’t see it like that, but I can’t see inside this guys heart or mind, not a clairvoyant
Very, very different from the Washington establishment elite cabal.