Scandal-plagued former President and Republican 2024 presidential nominee Donald Trump has been slammed with criticisms and questions about his choice for his VP running mate, Ohio’s far-Right Senator J.D. Vance. Those questions and concerns have only increased now that Biden VP Kamala Harris has entered the scene following Joe’s withdrawal from the race and has already centered herself as the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee.
Many of Trump’s own people have questioned why the ex-president went with Vance when he could’ve pegged someone like Sen. Marco Rubio or Governor Doug Burgum who are considered more “traditional, old-GOP-style” Conservatives to appeal to the Centrist and Moderate Republican voters, or someone like Niki Haley to draw in the support among women that Trump desperately needs right now.
But, instead, Donald landed a full-MAGA, extremist candidate to fill his November ticket — and what could be the real reason why is more terrifying than I can put into words.
Axios reporters Zachary Basu and Andrew Solender have released a new piece, covering the controversy surrounding Donald’s VP choice and shedding light on what could be the true reason Donald Trump went with a candidate that, on the surface, has only seemed to hurt him more than help him.
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Basu and Solender start by noting that many House Republicans believe that Trump did more harm than good to his presidential campaign by going with a “hardline MAGA” candidate like Vance.
“Vice President Kamala Harris’ sudden elevation as Donald Trump’s opponent has some Republicans second-guessing the former president’s selection of Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate,” their report reads.
“Why it matters: While President Biden was refusing to budge last week in the face of mounting Democratic pressure, Trump chose the outspoken senator as a tribute — and potential heir — to the hardline MAGA movement.”
“Vance’s nomination at the GOP convention came at the peak of the party’s confidence about the 2024 election, which polls suggested was shaping up to be a potential landslide,” the reporters note. “But less than a week later, Biden was out and Harris was in — scrambling the polls and detonating the Trump campaign’s assumptions about the electoral playing field.”
As allies of Harris brutally and relentlessly slam Vance on everything from his views on abortion, to his thoughts on abusive marriages, to his resurfaced “childless cat ladies” remark, a House Republican that spoke to the reporters only on the condition of anonymity told Axios, “The road got a lot harder. He was the only pick that wasn’t the safe pick. And I think everyone has now realized that.”
Yet another anonymous House Republican told the outlet, “On the whole, the feeling is: doesn’t add much. And now, with Kamala at the top, the capacity to have expanded the map a little bit… would have been much more beneficial.”
But the terrifying part came in this particular snippet of the Axios report:
Why it matters: While President Biden was refusing to budge last week in the face of mounting Democratic pressure, Trump chose the outspoken senator as a tribute — and potential heir — to the hardline MAGA movement.”
It doesn’t look like much at first glance, but this notion of a “potential heir” hails back to remarks recently made by Montana Republican Senator Steve Daines in a Politico interview before Trump had chosen his 2024 running mate, in which Daines confessed that Donald Trump was specifically looking for a vice president that would not only serve as a right-hand man during his next term, but he could trust to carry on the extremist MAGA torch for years to come.
“This person will not only be one heartbeat away from the presidency during President Trump’s next term, but will likely be our nominee in ’28 and serve as president for the next eight years following President Trump’s term,” Daines said in that interview — and now it looks like Donald Trump has found just the guy…
Find the full report from Axios here.
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
