America's Talking - Speculation High Over Trump’s Potential Running Mate Ahead of Convention

Episode Date: July 13, 2024

Republicans who once criticized former President Donald Trump are on the presumptive Republican nominees' short-list for vice president ahead of the Republican National Convention next week. Trump's campaign reportedly sent informational requests to eight GOP leaders: Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, Florida U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, New York U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, Arkansas U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson. Trump has mentioned several of those same names during public appearances in recent weeks, teasing at his pick before the convention.Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_68bd03ec-3ec9-11ef-ae8b-f317a887eadd.html Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to America in Focus powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAulib, Chief Content Officer at Franklin News Foundation, publisher of the Center Square Newswire Service. We are recording this on Friday, July 12th. While Democrats are in panic mode over concerns about the mental and physical deterioration of President Joe Biden, it's Republicans who will be center stage beginning Monday in Milwaukee when the Republican National Convention kicks off. Despite legal troubles, including his conviction on 34 felony counts in the New York City Hush Money case, former President Donald Trump is locked in at the top of the presidential ticket. Joining me to discuss the RNC is Casey Harper, the Center Square's Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief.

Casey, we know the GOP will formalize their nomination of Trump next week, but we don't know yet who is running mate will be. Let's start there. What are you hearing about Trump's selection of vice president? The big question, Dan, it's a big week next week. and a question that can make or break a presidential campaign, who will be the VP? I think that there's been quite a bit of speculation. And the speculation over the last six to nine months has ranged pretty significantly. So I do want to say that a lot of what we're saying here is speculation,

is a little bit of analysis. No one knows 100% for sure what Trump is going to do. And maybe Trump doesn't even know. He might, but he might not. Because earlier during the primary, there was a lot of assumption and speculation that Trump was going to pick a woman, that he pretty much needed to pick a woman to shore up suburban women, going into the general election. That's been a weakness for him. And maybe, you know, Trump's pull on rural voters and a VP who is dynamic woman who could pull in suburban women might be an unstoppable combination. So there's been talk even about maybe Democrat like Tulsi Gabbard. You know, I think there's been too much bad blood at this point with him and Nikki Haley. But at one point she was considered it. And there's been others. Christy Knoem was thrown out there at one point. But now that conversation is kind of shifted, Dan. I mean, there was some big talk because Trump's campaign reportedly, you know, reached out to a handful of people for more information. So that included a former primary contender, North Dakota Governor Doug Bergam, Tim Scott, Byron Donald's, Elise Saffonix, so that could be a suburban woman right there,

Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, and Ben Carson, who's from the Trump administration. But one name on that list, who I didn't say, the last name, is Senator J.D. Vance, Republican from Ohio, and he's getting a lot of talk right now. For one, kind of interesting inside baseball fact, and that is that Donald Trump Jr. is expected and reportedly helping kick off the Republican convention next week. And it's well known that Donald Trump Jr. has a good, has spoken well of J.D. Vance. And so maybe he is introducing Vance. You know, Ohio is an important state.

It's not quite the swing state that it used to be, but it'll be a different. interesting to watch, Dan, I think that J.D. Vance is a contender, but he's by no means a slam dunk at this point. Yeah. And what maybe is complicating the decision for President Trump is what's going on the Democratic side. President Biden right now is the presumed nominee, but there have been growing calls for him to step aside. And if he were to step aside, he says he's not. Would Vice President Kamala Harris then be at the top of the ticket on the Democratic side, you know, a black woman? with that force, of course he's not going to know before next week, probably, but does that make it even more important for him to pick a woman to be his vice president? So yes, as you said, this is all speculation. We don't know yet until Trump himself makes an announcement or the vice presidential candidate is, you know, introduced at the convention next week. It's just all speculation. But it's not just all about the vice presidency, Casey. They'll be talking next week in Milwaukee about various policy positions, of course, voters in polling across the country, inflation in the economy is

top of mind for many voters. The ongoing border crisis and the flood of millions of migrants illegally crossing the U.S. border is right up there with inflation and the economy. What do you expect on the policy side, Casey? Yeah, I mean, I think there's a big emphasis on immigration is coming for sure. A big emphasis on the economy, which is Republicans of traditionally done. Trump brings that heavy immigration focus. He's got a couple of pretty controversial policies like mass deportation that he's really pushing. I think, you know, a question is to what degree are they going to, how are they going to tow the line on the abortion issue is really important? You know,

what is a Trump Republican Party or even a post-Trump Republican Party look like on family values? You know, I've been talking to different, you know, sources about that and people, even people involved in the platform. And I think there's a big question. about how pro-life is this new party going to be because Roe v. Wade has become a difficult political issue for Republicans in swing districts after the overturning of Roevey Wade, of course, sent the issue back to the states. It really created enthusiasm within the Democratic base. It's one of, you know, Biden's biggest tools to rally the base is to talk about reproductive health. And so I think how they tackle the abortion issue is really something to watch.

And I said this has come less and less in the newsstand, but how they handle. these foreign wars, Ukraine, I think this is such an interesting issue. People's support for Ukraine has really waned. Biden has been all in on defending Ukraine. And so I think it's to be really interesting to see at this convention how Trump sets the tone. You know, is Ukraine going to be a major campaign issue or not? That's something that I'm personally looking at. You've also got the Israeli Hamas war growing calls in the fringes of the Democratic Party of stopping support for Israel. Trump is 100. all in for supporting Israel. Biden has supported Israel, but he's got a lot of left, significantly left-leaning

Democrats who don't like what's going on with the U.S. support of Israel in that war. And then, of course, you also have Biden's handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. I don't know if that's really fresh on voters' minds, but I'm sure that Trump and Republicans will also use that as saying Trump is stronger on foreign policy, where there are no wars during his president's. I still think the economy, inflation, and the border of the top issues, but you're right. What's going on with the U.S. foreign policy could be a factor. Yeah, I mean, I think Trump actually, in a different election, this incumbent would be in a lot of trouble. You know, Trump has this sort of vortex of attention around him so that no matter what the election is about, it's sort of always about him.

But a different candidate would have a lot of ammunition here saying, hey, when I was in office, there was no wars. Biden took over. We're in wars all over the place. when I was in office. I mean, just this one fact, Dan, prices have risen 20% since Biden took office. I mean, that could have been a fatal fact for a lot of candidates in previous years, right? But I think Trump has the ammunition to win this election, even without Biden's floods. Now, Trump has, these legal issues are such a big problem for him and they're going to come to

do ahead and he might end up, you know, in jail and all the stuff. So presidential immunity may have helped him in some ways, but I still think he's there's some of these charges that aren't really affected by the immunity angle. And it's going to be a real headache for him. But a different year, you know, he could focus on these things. He could focus on the economy, inflation, immigration. I mean, we're in an immigration crisis. We're in just out of an inflation crisis. We are sort of been entangled in two foreign wars in the last couple of years. So just from a strict, you know, objective look at the things that usually hurt or influence presidential elections, I think there's a lot of ammunition here for Trump. But the question is, is this election

going to be about those issues? Can, at next week, can they really rally Republicans to focus it and hone on that? Or is it going to be, is the election going to be about Trump's legal issues and Biden's mental health and Trump's latest tweet? Thank you for joining us today. Casey, listeners can keep up with this story and more at thecenter square.com.