Donald Trump rules out Nikki Haley as his VP. So who’s left?
After all but ruling out Nikki Haley as his vice presidential pick, Donald Trump appears likely to choose from among a handful of former rising Republican stars ... with interesting CVs.
Donald Trump appeared to rule out picking Nikki Haley as his vice-presidential running mate while campaigning in New Hampshire on Friday (Saturday AEDT), declaring she was not “not presidential timber”.
“That probably means that she’s not going to be chosen as the vice president,” he explained to an audience of supporters in the state capital Concord. “When you say certain things, it sort of takes them out of play,” he added — after months of calling the former South Carolina governor ‘birdbrain’.
If Trump decisively wins the New Hampshire primary next Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), expect attention to turn swiftly to whom he’ll pick as his vice-presidential running mate.
A few hours after Trump’s dismissal of her, Haley, once his ambassador to the United Nations, ruled out wanting the job, telling supporters in Amherst the idea was “off the table”, weeks after refusing to comment on the matter.
Whoever Trump picks stands a better chance of becoming president than usual given his age, 77, and the constitutional prohibition on president’s having third terms.
Before his big victory in Iowa last week, Trump hinted he’d already worked it out. “I can’t really tell you that… I mean, I know who it’s going to be,” he said at a Fox News ‘town hall’ event in Des Moines , declining to reveal who would accompany him on the hustings all the way to the November presidential poll.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who abruptly cancelled his Sunday TV appearances on Saturday evening (Sunday AEDT), has long denied any interest — a more believable repudiation than Haley’s given he has term to serve as governor of the third biggest US state by population until January 2027.
So who will Trump choose?
We might safely rule out a woman of colour, given that would appear to buy into Democrats’ obsession with ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’. And even they perhaps regret choosing Kamala Harris in 2020 on that criteria.
That said, two white men in suits would be boring in an era teeming with successful women politicians, and could alienate black and women voters, groups which Trump tried hard, with mixed success, to peel away from Democrats during his term.
Bookies are offering some intriguing if unlikely options: his daughter Ivanka and former Fox anchor Tucker Carlson, for instance, but their favourite for now is former rodeo queen and South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, 52 (the same age as Haley).
The ranch owner and farmer – and former South Dakota Snow Queen — Noem was elected governor of her tiny midwestern state in 2019, soon rising to national prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic for refusing to impose practically any restrictions and capitalising on the fact outcomes differed little from North Dakota, which imposed many.
“What I’ve seen across the country is so many people give up their liberties for just a little bit of security, and they don’t have to do that,” she said in 2020.
Another favourite is firebrand congresswoman Elise Stefanik from New York, who shot to prominence internationally late last year after her fiery interrogation of the presidents of three of top universities (including Harvard, her alma mater) over anti-Semitism on campus – prompting the resignations of two of them.
Ms Stefanik, the youngest woman ever elected to congress in 2014 at age 30, soared in the Republican firmament to become the chairman of the House Republican Conference in 2021, the fourth most senior position in her party in the lower house chamber.
Stefanik, a former aide to George W Bush who began her congressional terms espousing moderate Republican positions, has become a strident backer of the former president, controversially describing imprisoned participants in the January 6th riots at “political hostages” last week.
If Trump insists on a female running mate, Tulsi Gabbard, a former competitive surfer, Democrat congresswoman from Hawaii and 2020 Democrat presidential candidate, would be a third possibility. An Iraq war veteran, Hindu, and a fluent Spanish speaker, she’s now a trenchant critic of the Democrat party, and regularly appears on conservative news networks.
“I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness,” the 42 year old said at the time.
Trump has colourful male options too, including his former competitor for the GOP nomination 38 year old entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, also Hindu, who quit the race after finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses with 8 per cent of the vote.
Rather than retire, he flew to New Hampshire to campaign for a grateful Trump, who now enjoys one of the most articulate and intelligent GOP candidates ever – just watch him in action – as his campaign surrogate, and under appreciated boon for the former president.
“He’s a fantastic guy, and he’s really he’s got something that’s very special, he started wit ha zippo and ended up very strong… he’s going to be working with us for a long time,” Trump said in Atkinson, New Hampshire last Tuesday, standing beside Ramaswamy before a crowd yelling “VP”.
BREAKING: Donald Trump says Vivek Ramaswamy will be working with him 'for a very long time'
— TaraBull (@TaraBull808) January 17, 2024
Who do you predict will be Trump's VP pick? pic.twitter.com/DfG2zmXSBf
Whether he’s been promised vice president or a cabinet post in a future Trump administration, few could doubt some sort of deal has been struck.
Other options include another former competitor for the GOP nomination, Tim Scott, who became the first high profile senator to endorse Trump after his win in Iowa, snubbing Haley who had appointed him to his position when she was governor of South Carolina.
Another black American, Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who served in Trump’s cabinet as Housing secretary, could equally burnish the Trump ticket for America’s 30 million odd eligible black voters, around 85 per cent of whom voted for Joe Biden in 2020.
Trump still has months to think about his options, given candidates typically wait until the northern summer a few weeks before their party’s national convention in July to reveal their hand.
VP choice can matter. John McCain derailed his 2008 presidential bid after picking former Alaska governor Sarah Palin whose outlandish statements arguably costing him the campaign. Trump is unlikely to have the same problem, given his predilection for firing people who aren’t up to scratch.
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