OH, GOD, IS TRUMP GOING TO MAKE IVANKA HIS 2024 RUNNING MATE?
Mike Pence spent four years slavishly devoted to Donald Trump, save for a brief moment in which he politely declined to overturn the results of the 2020 election. In return, Trump nearly got his V.P. killed by a violent mob and then praised the people chanting, “Hang Mike Pence,” telling them, “We love you,“ and, “You’re very special.” Later Pence refused to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office, aired nary a grievance re: his boss siccing a bloodthirsty horde on him, and, just this week, authored an op-ed in which he suggested that the election was stolen from Trump and that the events of January 6 were not the ex-president‘s fault.
In return, you might have expected Trump to call Pence up and say something like, “Thanks for always having my back, and hey, sorry about almost getting you lynched,” or, hell, even pretend to still find the guy politically useful. Unfortunately for Pence, he hitched his wagon to the wrong unhinged megalomaniac, and instead, his old boss’s handlers have made it known he’s out in MAGA-land.
Bloomberg reports that Trump “is telling allies he’s strongly considering another run for president in 2024—and close advisers want him to choose someone other than former vice president Mike Pence for his ticket, according to people familiar with the discussions.” According to reporters Jennifer Jacobs, Mario Parker, and Mark Niquette, Trump has privately discussed alternatives to Pence “as he takes stock of who he believes stood with him at the end of his term and who didn’t.” In other words, Pence followed the Constitution for, like, a second in between nothing short of slobbering canine loyalty and has thus been deemed a traitorous shrew.
Whom does Team Trump have in mind to replace the Indiana politician, who is presumably praying with Mother for the ex-prez’s forgiveness? Someone they could point to as supposed evidence that he’s not an unrepentant racist with a long history of sexual harassment allegations against him, perhaps:
Trump’s advisers have discussed identifying a Black or female running mate for his next run, and three of the people familiar with the matter said Pence likely won’t be on the ticket. Two advisers have suggested Trump consider South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, the people said. Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, are hosting a fundraiser for Noem on Friday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and home in Palm Beach. The former president is planning to make an appearance, people familiar with the matter said.
And on Tuesday, Trump issued a public endorsement for South Carolina senator Tim Scott’s reelection. Scott is the only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate.
As New York’s Ed Kilgore points out, though, it’s also possible that Trump could try to keep it in the family in 2024, pretending to consider Ivanka, Don Jr., and “budding politician Lara” before going with the only adult child he’s ever loved, who no doubt sees herself as the obvious choice. (Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, have reportedly been plotting to make her the first woman president for several years now, so presumably she’d see this as a logical stepping stone.)
Of course it’s not yet clear that Trump will actually run in 2024. Sure, he teased a third bid for the White House over the weekend, but he also spent years hinting he was going to run for president before he actually did so in 2016. (People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that he “likely won’t make a formal announcement until the summer of 2023.”) And if he does decide to take another stab at it, he might not receive the hero’s welcome he’s clearly hoping for; among those polled at the Conservative Political Action Conference, just 68% said they wanted him to run for president again. That’s not a great number when you’re polling a group almost exclusively made up of the most fervent conservatives in the country, though reading the room has never been Trump’s strong suit.
