Donald Trump is still trying to make up his mind on a running mate, but he has narrowed down some of the qualities he's seeking in a potential vice president.
The former president is seeking someone who's strong but loyal, media-savvy and willing to fight for him on television, or, as one ally put it, "everything Mike Pence wasn't," reported The Guardian.
"But he's also concerned that his number two might outshine him."
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“I think it’s also somebody who definitely believes in his agenda," said former Trump pollster Jim McLaughlin. "I don’t think he’s going to go for somebody to have some sort of an ideological or necessarily political balance."
“He’s going to want an ‘America first’ Republican to be his nominee," McLaughlin added. "I get calls a lot of times from candidates: ‘Can you help me with the Trump endorsement?’ My first question to them is: What kind of relationship do you have with him? Because loyalty is huge with him. It’s got to be somebody he is comfortable with as a person.”
Speculation has centered around senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tim Scott (R-SC) and J.D. Vance, as well as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, whose seems to have gathered momentum in recent weeks.
“Vance tends to make the most sense," said Reed Galen, an ex-Republican strategist and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. "There’s the anti-Trump video that will be played a million times, but everyone’s got something like that now probably except for Ben Carson. But Vance seems to me to be the person who can bring youth to the ticket. He can lay back on that 'Hillbilly Elegy' bootstraps bullsh*t that Republicans love.”
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“Trump is certainly more dynamic on stage because he’s nuts – he’s a coked-up Tasmanian devil – but I would venture to say that, for a lot of Republicans, Vance reminds them of a Republican party that they want, "Galen added. "Burgum’s boring but he’s got money. He’s not going to hurt you. He’ll do whatever he’s told. I think Vance would, too.”
The presumptive Republican nominee is expected to announce his choice at next month's Republican National Convention, and it's possible he might choose a candidate who's barely been mentioned.
“It would not at all surprise me if Trump were to pull a name out of left and right field that he’s really been looking at and this is an entire misdirection," said Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. “If somebody is going to move the needle for Trump, it’s going to be somebody like a woman or a Black person. I guess I just won’t predict that because it’s quite clear going back decades that the identity of a vice-presidential nominee has a very limited and regional effect, if it has an effect at all.
