Who will Donald Trump choose as his vice-presidential running mate?
With the Republican convention to formally nominate the party’s presidential candidate around the corner, Donald Trump will be making his vice-presidential running mate selection soon enough.
Trump, the 2016 outsider candidate who upended the party, chose Mike Pence then. That political alliance ended when Pence refused to heed Trump’s pleas to not officially certify Joe Biden’s 2020 win, despite being threatened by some Trump supporters during the Capitol insurrection.
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Former U.S. president Donald Trump told Fox News he would be ‘OK’ with house arrest or jail time following his conviction, but he doesn’t think the public ‘would stand for it.’ Trump’s opponents considered the comments as being able to incite violence.
Political scientists have long said that vice-presidential choices have rarely had an impact on voting behaviour.
But the choices are always debated, and ahead of the July 15 convention in Milwaukee, Reuters has heard several names repeated based on conversations with nine people who have talked with Trump or his team in recent weeks, including donors, lobbyists and campaign operatives.
Here’s a closer look at some potential VP candidates:
Doug Burgum
Burgum, 67, was little known outside his native North Dakota when he launched a quixotic campaign for president last year. The governor of the 47th most populous state in the U.S. since 2016, he gained attention for offering cash in exchange for donations in a brief campaign that involved spending at least $12 million US of his own money.
There a number of factors that could endear him to the nominee: he endorsed Trump right away after dropping out of the presidential campaign, he was among a small number of Republicans to travel to New York and protest Trump’s trial outside the courthouse, and he is a real estate investor and billionaire who sold a software company to Microsoft in 2001.
Trivia: There has never been a VP from the Dakotas.
Tom Cotton
Cotton, 47, has been in the Senate since 2015, and prior to that put two years in as a House member. He serves on the judiciary, intelligence and armed services committees. Perhaps the candidate would like another face on those committees, as Cotton was not averse to occasionally voting against the first Trump administration.
Cotton received a law degree from Harvard and then enlisted in the U.S. army, seeing active combat duty but later encountering criticism for allegations he mischaracterized aspects of his deployment. His op-ed imploring the Trump administration to send in troops to quell 2020 protests over police brutality famously caused a rupture within the New York Times.
More recently, Cotton gave a stronger statement in supporting the results of the upcoming election compared to some other potential VP candidates.
Trivia: Cotton is six-foot-five. Would Trump pick a VP taller than he is?
Marco Rubio
Rubio, 53, ran for president in 2016 and found himself on the end of several Trump insults, but any hard feelings have long since been smoothed over. Rubio was a strong backer when Trump was president, voting against his two impeachments, and he compared Trump’s recent conviction to show trials in authoritarian countries. A Florida senator since 2010, he probably has the widest range of committee experience of any potential picks.
While going from being one of the most high-profile senators to a role that’s often overshadowed might seem like a step back, Rubio is no doubt mindful of history — Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush raised their profiles vice-presidents and landed in the Oval Office after previous failed presidential bids.
Trump has ignored history, tradition and, his critics say, the constitution before. He would probably be doing so again by picking Rubio, as the 12th Amendment seems to indicate that a president and vice-president can’t reside in the same state.
Trivia: Rubio would be the first Cuban American and Hispanic vice-president.
Tim Scott
Scott, 58, could be the first Black man to serve as vice-president. That’s more than just trivia, as Scott has been hailed within the party for his ability to raise money and provide outreach to minority voters.
He ran for president this cycle but didn’t make it to the first contest in Iowa. He criticized Trump on the campaign trail for not supporting a federal abortion ban like he has. That’s unlikely to bother the base, as many Republican-led states have banned the procedure in the aftermath of the momentous 2022 Dobbs court ruling, but it could upset undecided women voters.
As well, Scott voted alongside previous Trump administration positions more so than some other names on this list, according to an analysis.
He’s been a longtime politician — a senator for over 10 years, a House member for two before that and a municipal politician in the more distant past.
Trivia: He’s getting married in the summer, meaning he wouldn’t be the first unwed vice-president since Charles Curtis (1929-1933).
Elise Stefanik
Stefanik, 39, is arguably the person whose moved the furthest from Trump criticism and skepticism eight years ago to staunch supporter now, echoing his controversial language that many 2021 Capitol riot criminal defendants are “political prisoners.”
Stefanik has White House experience, serving in George W. Bush’s administration as a junior staffer and has risen to become the fourth-ranking House Republican after being first elected to the chamber in 2014.
Stefanik has made a name for herself in recent months by forceful questioning of university presidents in their efforts to deal with antisemitism and pro-Palestinian protests that have sprung up since the Oct. 7 attack in Israel by Hamas. She then celebrated when two of those campus leaders resigned after enduring a firestorm of criticism for their answers to Stefanik and her Republican colleagues.
Trivia: She would be the first woman to serve as VP for the Republicans. She’d be the youngest VP in modern times, and second only to 36-year-old John Breckinridge in the 1820s.
J.D. Vance
Vance, 39, ticks a lot of boxes on paper for an ideal political candidate: military experience, a Yale law degree, tech experience in Silicon Valley and his name on a book that crossed over into the mainstream: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, later made into a movie.
Vance — who spoke to CBC in 2016 about his rural American upbringing — in the past criticized Trump for often offering easy, impractical answers to voters like his onetime neighbours, but he has been a full-throated supporter of the former president since launching his successful 2022 Senate bid.
Choosing Vance would lead to an expensive and potentially risky contest in what’s expected to be a razor-close 2024 U.S. Senate year. Ohio has leaned conservative in recent years, but is not as solidly Republican as the states of Cotton, Rubio and Scott.
Trivia: Vance has been bearded in recent years and that has been out of vogue for the top ticket since the early 1900s. Trump famously loathed former White House adviser John Bolton’s mustache.
Published at Fri, 07 Jun 2024 16:43:37 +0000
Britain’s Rishi Sunak apologizes for leaving D-Day event early to return to campaigning
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered a fresh setback in his struggling election campaign on Friday when he apologized for leaving D-Day commemorations early in order to give an interview attacking the main opposition party.
Sunak’s decision to leave early was met with dismay within his Conservative Party, which is trailing far behind the Labour Party in opinion polls and facing the prospect of a huge defeat on July 4.
Labour Leader Keir Starmer also attended the D-Day 80th anniversary events in northern France on Thursday and was seen talking to world leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“After the conclusion of the British event in Normandy, I returned back to the U.K.,” Sunak said in a post on X. “On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer — and I apologize.”
Sunak said the D-Day events “should be about those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. The last thing I want is for the commemorations to be overshadowed by politics.”
World leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden and King Charles gathered in Normandy, northern France, to mark the anniversary of the Allied landings, a turning point in the Second World War. Prince William attended an event honouring Canadian sacrifices and heroism on D-Day.
Sunak spoke at a British-led event but delegated other duties to ministers including Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who was pictured with Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a memorial ceremony.
Sunak then recorded an interview with broadcaster ITV on Thursday after returning from France.
WATCH l American WW II hero offers praise to Ukrainian leader:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy kneeled to share a moment with a veteran at an event marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day, with each man praising the other for their war efforts.
‘Total dereliction of duty’
Senior Labour spokesperson Jonathan Ashworth accused Sunak of “choosing to prioritize his own vanity TV appearances over our veterans,” and “it is yet more desperation, yet more chaos, and yet more dreadful judgment.”
Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey accused the prime minister of a “total dereliction of duty.”
WATCH l Sunak makes wet, impromptu election call last month:
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a snap election for July 4, months earlier than expected. His conservative party risks a heavy defeat, down 20 points in the opinion polls, but he appears to hope improved economic data will help his party come back from behind.
Sunak has tried to portray himself as the person best placed to look after Britain’s security and he recently pledged to introduce mandatory national service if he wins the election.
His campaign got off to a bad start last month when he announced the election date under a downpour of rain, competing to be heard against Labour supporters blaring a pop song associated with the party’s crushing 1997 election victory.
Sunak’s Conservative Party is lagging about 20 points behind the opposition Labour Party in opinion polls. The party, in power for over 14 years, could also be vulnerable on the right after Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage changed course after announcing he wouldn’t run in the election by taking over leadership of the right-wing Reform UK party.
Chris Hopkins, political research director at the polling company Savanta, said Sunak was already seen by voters as out of touch.
The latest “political misjudgment seems almost laser-guided in causing Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party as much political pain as humanly possible,” he said.
LISTEN l BBC’s domestic political correspondent Rob Watson on election stakes:
Front Burner24:02Election season in the UK, again
In the interview with ITV on Thursday, Sunak doubled down on claims this week that if Labour win power they would raise taxes by 2,000 pounds ($3,500 Cdn) per household.
Labour denies it has any such plan, and accused Sunak of lying for claiming the estimate came from the civil service, which has said it did not endorse it. The head of Britain’s statistical watchdog said on Thursday the Conservatives should be clearer about the source of Sunak’s claims.
Published at Fri, 07 Jun 2024 11:00:19 +0000