Donald Trump is very much a one man show and he makes no effort to hide that. However, considering he’s now the presumptive Republican nominee, it’s a given fact that he’s going to have to choose a vice presidential candidate to run alongside him later this year. But who would take that job and who would Donald Trump allow into that job?
According to CNN Politics , a senior Trump aide has said that their candidate has narrowed his potential running mates to a “very small list.” Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s campaign manager is leading the charge in finding a running mate for Donald Trump, saying in an interview that his team has “started to shrink down that pool.” Lewandowski went on to say that he’s incredibly confident in each of the candidates on that list, but the decision as to who his VP will be will ultimately be made by Donald Trump himself.
In a separate interview earlier this week, Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort laid out some of the qualities that Trump would be looking for in his running mate. Most prominently, Trump would need a VP that knows Washington like he doesn’t, somebody who can deal with Congress whilst looking presidential enough to step into the top job.
However, Donald Trump might not be able to find a candidate that matches the above criteria all too easily. He’s largely seen as a toxic brand by many inside Washington, a face that they wouldn’t want to associate themselves with. In fact, many within the Republican party have used the past few months to describe their distaste for Donald Trump, many of those establishment figures who would be considered for the vice presidential pick, if this was a different race with a different presumptive nominee.
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In fact, many possible vice presidential candidates have distanced themselves from the job. According to Fortune , Marco Rubio, who dropped out of the race for the nomination earlier this year is warming to the idea of a Donald Trump presidency, however, made it clear that he wouldn’t run alongside him. However, it’s also worth remembering that Rubio was at the receiving end of many of Trump’s insults out on the campaign trail, along with many other key Republican figures, meaning that Donald Trump could have a difficult job finding an accepting VP.
Marco Rubio concedes campaign mistakes, supports Donald Trump https://t.co/Al06Kx0BpY
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 29, 2016
The problem for many considering the job as Trump’s running mate is that they’re just not confident he can win and ultimately, for a senior party figure latching themselves to a failed campaign, they’re going to lose political prospects, should they want to run again in the future.
That being said, the above doesn’t mean that Donald Trump is going to be short of prospective running mates. He’s managed to attract a good deal of support whilst campaigning for the Republican nomination, including from, most prominently, Sarah Palin. It’s prompted many to question whether Trump might have struck a deal with Palin to place her on his ticket and give the failed 2008 vice presidential candidate another shot at the White House.
When it comes to picking a running mate, it’s almost a given that Donald Trump is going to want a candidate who’s able to pick up support where he can’t. This could very well suggest that Trump could pick a VP candidate better designed to tackle Hillary Clinton, but then again, this is Donald Trump, so that might not be the case.
[Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images]