What Trump Thinks About Scott, Noem, Rubio, Other VP Contenders

As the veepstakes hypothesis grows, Donald Trump—Republicans’ presumptive nominee for president for the third straight time—has had loads to say in regards to the group of contenders for the second spot on the ticket.

Axios reported over the weekend on an audio recording obtained from a gathering at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property during which the previous president feedback on quite a few contenders for his option to be vp. 

Those potential Trump decisions embrace three fellow Floridians who’re in Congress: Sen. Marco Rubio and Reps. Byron Donalds and Michael Waltz. Trump additionally talked about two former 2024 primary opponents, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. 

The names of three extra senators additionally had been within the combine: Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Lee of Utah, and JD Vance of Ohio. And Trump commented on the often-mentioned chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, Elise Stefanik of New York. 

North Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican who made the information final week for telling a narrative in her new memoir about taking pictures and killing a 14-month-old farm dog, was amongst people who Trump commented on. (For her half, Noem stated the canine posed a hazard to her household and different animals after killing chickens.) 

“Somebody that I love,” Trump says of Noem within the audio recording launched by Axios. “She’s been with me, a supporter of mine, and I’ve been a supporter of hers for a long time.”

Axios reported that Trump’s “most prominent surrogates” went to Mar-a-Lago on Saturday to “audition for vice president.” At a personal luncheon, Trump commented on the potential working mates, the outlet stated. 

In the recording,Trump doesn’t appear to resent any former opponents within the 2024 Republican primaries who reportedly have been within the working for his nod to be vp. (However, he doesn’t point out Nikki Haley, his former U.N. ambassador, who didn’t drop out till March 6.)

As for North Dakota’s Burgum, governor of a state subsequent door to Noem’s, Trump says: “I didn’t know this: He was a supporter of my two campaigns. He’s a very rich man.”

On Scott, the South Carolina senator, Trump says: “As a candidate, he did a good job, but as a surrogate, he’s unbelievable.”

In a press launch Monday, BetOnline introduced that it was updating its betting odds after the Mar-a-Lago assembly, giving Scott and Burgum the most effective odds at 4-1. Vance, as soon as seen as a longshot, rose to 5-1. Rubio is 8-1. 

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a Democrat in Congress who turned an unbiased after leaving workplace, is at 9-1. Gabbard’s identify, nonetheless, doesn’t come up within the Trump audio leaked to Axios. 

Interestingly, not one of the potential contenders talked about by Trump had been from battleground states resembling Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin.

Trump notes that Vance wasn’t at all times on board, in line with the audio, however calls the junior senator from Ohio “great,” Axios reported. 

“He wasn’t a supporter of mine at the very beginning [and] was saying things like ‘the guy’s a total disaster’… Anyways, I got to know him a little bit,” Trump says of Vance. “As a non-politician, he’s become one of the great senators.” 

In the 2016 Republican major cycle, Trump mocked Florida’s Rubio as “Little Marco.” Rubio at one level referred to Trump’s small fingers. 

In the audio, Trump solely says of Rubio: “His name is coming up a lot for vice president.”

Significant information protection has proven Trump gaining support among black men. Beyond Scott of South Carolina, Trump mentions two different potential black working mates within the audio recording. 

Of Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas, Trump says: “Another friend of mine … makes the best commercials … beautiful family.”

Of a possible alternative that will create a workforce of Donalds, Trump says of Donalds, the Florida congressman: “Somebody who’s created something very special politically. … I like diversity. Diversité, as you would say. I like diversité. [Donors] worth millions of dollars … all want a piece of Byron.”

There has additionally been loads of hypothesis about Trump choosing a girl to shut the gender hole. 

Regarding Blackburn of Tennessee, Trump says “she was like the Energizer Bunny” in 2018, when she efficiently campaigned to go away the House for the Senate. “She would go from stop to stop to stop.”

Of Stefanik, Trump says within the audio: “A very smart person. She was in upstate New York when I met her. … little did we realize she would be such a big factor.”

Trump is a former resident of New York City, the place he constructed a lot of his actual property empire. He is now a resident of Florida. 

There is a few debate about whether the 12th Amendment permits a president and vp to be from the identical state, and that debate might come into play if Trump wished to pick out Stefanik, Rubio, Donalds, or Waltz.

Of Waltz, Trump says within the recording: “A man that knows more about the military. When I want to know about the military, I call him.”

Lee is a one-time critic of Trump who supported Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas within the 2016 presidential primaries for the GOP nomination, when Lee additionally sported extra hair.

In the audio, Lee features some reward from the previous president, who says of him: “I love your haircut” earlier than including: “And he’s a good man too.”

The Trump marketing campaign didn’t reply to The Daily Signal’s request for remark for this report.