According to a report from news outlet Axios, there are three main figures former President Donald Trump and his team are considering for his next vice president: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
This comes just days after the Iowa caucuses, which Trump won in an unprecedented landslide. Republican operatives have now reportedly shifted gears from attempting to contest Trump to quietly trying to pitch their candidates as his vice president.
This shortlist derives, in Axios’ words, “from media reports and chatter from top surrogates.” Stefanik, the New York Congresswoman who caught headlines in November for sharply cross-examining the leaders of Ivy Leagues over anti-Jewish hate speech, is apparently “at the top” of the list. This is according to former Trump campaign chief executive officer and White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, who gave this information to NBC News.
Trump agrees about Stefanik’s merit. “She’s a killer,” he reportedly told associates after her antisemitism hearing.
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Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. told Newsmax that Vance is someone he’d “love to see” in the VP seat. Vance is commonly described as a “populist,” famous for writing the book Hillbilly Elegy, a memoir of his tough upbringing in the deindustrialized Rust Belt, which was later turned into a Netflix film. He dislikes open-border immigration policies and endless wars, but departs from conservative orthodoxy by endorsing labor unions and economic protectionism.
Finally, there is Nikki Haley, the current third-place candidate in the Republican primary. While she has publicly stated she doesn’t “run for second,” there is background talk about her being placed onto a Trump ticket in an attempt to sway moderate Republican voters to his side. Political consultants believe that the former president will have to fight for their vote, as they were alienated after his perceived role in stoking the January 6th Capitol riot. This would doubtlessly cause massive backlash within Trump’s own base, however, many of whom believe that Haley would actively undermine Trump’s presidency at every turn.
Tucker Carlson, who himself was floated as a VP pick but told Valuetainment founder Patrick Bet-David he doesn’t want the job, swore last month that he would “advocate against [a Haley VP] as strongly” as he could. In a clip from Jack Posobiec’s podcast, filmed December 20th but recirculated by Posobiec yesterday, Tucker Carlson expressed strong disapproval for the notion of a Haley vice presidency.
MUST WATCH: Tucker stops in his tracks when asked about Nikki Haley then UNLOADS on her pic.twitter.com/gn7zlGHkCG
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) January 19, 2024
“Nikki Haley running with Trump?” Tucker said after a pregnant pause. “You know, that’s so grotesque that I’ve got to think people who support Trump currently would come out against Trump. Do you think that’s real?” he asked, still in disbelief.
Posobiec replied that he has heard there is a push from the Haley camp for this to happen and that he believes the intention is to install her as the runner-up to the presidency so that if Trump is “taken out” she can replace him.
“Of course! I was about to say, there’s no one more sinister than Nikki Haley. But that’s giving her credit for existing, which I don’t think she actually does. I mean, I think Nikki Haley is a hologram. Nikki Haley is just a physical representation of the lust for power of the oligarch class. It’s just like if Ken Griffin, you know, had a sock puppet, it would be Nikki Haley. Her views bear no resemblance to the views of Republican primary voters—none, she was totally for the BLM riot, she’s totally for the tranny insanity, and she’s for declaring war on half the world. Haley, you know, she’s whatever: I’ve got her positions now, but if you said Nikki Haley, look, I have a lot of money, like for real, I’ve got $100 billion and I’ll give you a third of it to come out and attack Israel, there’s no question that she would.”
“She would just turn around on a dime, just like that?” Posobiec asked.
“Oh 100 percent! ‘You know, I’ve really thought about it, and I think that Benjamin Netanyahu is the, you know, greatest threat to world peace, and I think, honestly, we should take their nuclear weapons away, maybe invade Israel because they’re a threat to national security.’ I think she’d be saying stuff like that if you paid her enough.”
Axios claims other major contenders for the VP pick include former candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R), former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson, freshman Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL), former candidate Tim Scott (R-SC), and onetime Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake (R).
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics, economics, and culture for Valuetainment. Follow Shane on X (Twitter).
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