PALM BEACH, Florida — Former President Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner for president in 2024, told Breitbart News exclusively during a two-hour-plus interview at Mar-a-Lago last week that the person who gets the nod for vice president will not make much difference in the grand scheme of things regarding winning the election.
“If you study the history of presidential runs, a vice president has never made a difference—which is surprising,” Trump said. “It’s a one-night story, and then they’re back to a regular evening. They’re voting for the president. They’re not voting for the vice president. There has, not that I can think of, never been a vice president that’s made much of a difference in terms of nomination and in terms of even winning the election.”
While Trump did not get into specifically whom he would pick if he wins the nomination as expected or a timeline for an eventual decision, he did say that Republicans have a deep bench, and lots of people would be good choices.
“So, look, we have some very good people—the same people you know,” Trump said. “They’re good people. We have some people that would like me to run with certain others. Maybe I can’t do that because you have to go with what your gut tells you. Winning is very important. Look, if we don’t win this, I think this country is finished. I actually do.”
Donor-class establishment types are aggressively lobbying Trump to get him to pick former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, a current Trump rival for the GOP nomination. Their argument is that she would help him win women and moderate voters, but Trump does not seem to be buying that argument as evidenced by his belief that whomever he would select as a running mate would make no difference in the outcome of the general election.
US 2024 Republican presidential hopeful and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley speaks at the New Hampshire Republican Party’s First in the Nation Leadership Summit in Nashua, New Hampshire, on October 13, 2023 (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images).
Others expected to be under consideration include South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), House Republican conference chairwoman Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), among many, many others. The fact that Trump is talking about the GOP’s deep bench and long list of possible contenders for this—combined with his recent escalations in attacks on Haley, whom he calls “Birdbrain”—would seem to bode badly for Haley’s chances of being selected.
With the Iowa caucuses a week from Monday and the New Hampshire primary eight days later—Trump leads both significantly in polling—he could wrap up the nomination fight in the next couple of weeks. If he does, and ends it quickly, expect the conversation to move to the person he would select as a running mate and why fairly soon after. If the nomination battle drags out through February into March—Super Tuesday is the first week of March, and the following Tuesday is the first opportunity for a candidate to reach the delegate threshold for a majority at the convention in July—it could be a longer, more drawn-out discussion.