Former President Donald Trump said Saturday that people will not “be that surprised” by his choice for vice president, even as he said he had not yet made a decision and downplayed the importance of a running mate, The Hill reported.
“I may or may not really [decide] something over the next couple of months,” Trump said when asked about his choice for a running mate. “There’s no rush to that. It won’t have any impact at all. The person that I think I like is a very good person, a pretty standard. I think people won’t be that surprised, but I would say there’s probably a 25% chance that would be that person.”
The former president emphasized what he considered to be the unimportance of the vice presidential candidate, saying that “it’s never really had that much of an effect on an election, which is an amazing thing, both election and primary. It’s never really had much of an effect.”
Although Trump has not revealed much during the campaign about whom he is considering, several of his allies have urged him to pick a female running mate.
Earlier this month, Trump indicated he would be willing to consider any of the people who ran against him, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination centered on criticizing Trump.
He also called Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina a “great guy,” but quickly pivoted to how many other political figures from the same state endorsed him in order to emphasize the weakness of Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and the last major Republican running against him.
“You know, [Scott] endorsed me,” Trump said. “There’s an example: [Nikki Haley] comes from South Carolina; Tim Scott is from South Carolina. But if you look [at] the governor, great governor, another senator [Lindsey Graham]. We happen to like Lindsey. But, [Gov. Henry McMaster] knows it very well. He endorsed me. It’s very hard for a governor to endorse somebody when you haven’t … I mean, Henry McMaster was the lieutenant governor under [Haley] and he endorsed me … What does that tell you?”
Brian Freeman | editorial.freeman@newsmax.com
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/trump-running-mate-south-carolina/2024/01/21/id/1150411
