Trump, despite his frequent bigoted statements, actually improved the party’s standing with some groups, especially Latino voters and Black men. The Republican Party has long wrestled with a disadvantage among voters of color. Kim Reynolds, the governor of Iowa-a crucial early state in the battle for the nomination.Marsha Blackburn, the senator from Tennessee and a staunch culture warrior.Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota and a onetime Trump favorite, but Trump aides reportedly think she’s not ready for the job, quite a statement given the source.Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic representative from Hawaii and presidential candidate who has drifted MAGA-ward, recently left the Democratic Party, and is now a Fox News contributor.Ivanka Trump, because Trump adores his daughter, though she says she is done with politics.Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor-elect of Arkansas and former White House press secretary.But her home state of Michigan turned hard blue in 2022, and she’s never run for elected office. Ronna Romney McDaniel, who as Trump’s handpicked head of the Republican National Committee has been a stalwart support.Trump tends to hold a grudge, but he’s shown a willingness to overlook past sins when it helps him and an offender is sufficiently groveling. Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who was Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations, broke with him after January 6, but has since tried to mend fences.She was widely acclaimed as a candidate but somewhat surprisingly lost the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial race. Kari Lake, who is said to be among Trump’s favorite protégés and brings media savvy that Trump values from her career in television.Just after the 2022 election, as some GOP figures equivocated, she quickly endorsed Trump for 2024. Elise Stefanik, a member of Republican leadership in the House who has more political bona fides but less profile.Having her as vice president might also destroy any appetite for impeaching and removing Trump. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia congresswoman who is among the wildest and most high-profile MAGA acolytes she says she’s discussed the prospect of being Trump’s running mate with him.Besides, the zeitgeist in American politics, even in the GOP, is moving toward more diverse tickets. Wade-a signature Trump achievement-hurt Republicans badly in 2022. Women helped power strong Democratic performance in 2018, and backlash to the demise of Roe v. He won 44 percent of the female vote in 2020, an improvement over 2016 but a margin that makes victory difficult. This is a man whose 2016 campaign was nearly sunk by a recording in which he boasted about sexually assaulting women. It’s unfair to say that Trump has a woman problem-he has several. This list will be updated from time to time as news warrants. Here’s a rundown of possible approaches and the politicians who fit them. There will be no shortage of aspirants, even as Pence’s current book tour should provide a cautionary tale of how serving under Trump can debase you, nearly get you killed, and then get you coolly discarded. Trump has his needs, and ambitious Republican politicians have theirs. Or perhaps, annoyed by the independence of some members of his first administration, he’ll pick a trusted adviser who would, as they say, “Let Trump be Trump.” Maybe he’d try to excite the base and fortify his own strengths by choosing a celebrity or conservative-media figure. He could try to unite the party and neutralize rivals by choosing a more establishment candidate, an echo of his choice of Mike Pence in 2016. ![]() He might also make a similar electoral calculation and select a person of color, which would be a handy rejoinder whenever anyone points out his record of racism. He might try to balance out the ticket, and blunt his difficulties with female voters, by choosing a woman. Read Is Trump still a viable candidate? Yes and no. It also could have major long-term consequences: Given Trump’s advanced age and pesky habit of getting impeached, his vice president could be called to take over the top job if Trump returns to the White House. Vice-presidential selections don’t tend to have much electoral impact, but the choice will be telling about what the former president thinks it might take to beat newly emboldened Republican rivals and Joe Biden or another Democrat. One of the few outstanding questions is whom Trump might pick as a running mate, and when. The American people know who this guy is, in sometimes excruciating detail they know what he stands for politically they know what kind of campaign he runs and they know that he’s going to say some shocking things, even if they don’t know what. You’re not going to get a lot of suspense from a third Donald Trump presidential campaign.
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