Christian Smith
Former President Trump is using his running mate’s audition process to create an army of surrogates willing to defend him and echo his talking points while he is locked up in a Manhattan courtroom.
As vice presidential candidates vie for Trump’s attention and favor, they flood the airwaves to raise their candidacy and attack President Biden.
Republican Senators Tim Scott (SC) and Marco Rubio (Florida), as well as North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (R), all on the list to be Trump’s running mate, made appearances on Sunday political shows in hopes of that the former president may be in tune.
Trump himself acknowledged the strategy in an interview on Tuesday. Allies said the former president would likely prolong his selection process to maintain the long list of candidates vying for the job.
“They’re all campaigning,” Trump told Spectrum News 1 in Wisconsin. “In fact, it might be more effective this way because, you know, each of them thinks they could be chosen, which I think is possibly true – but we have a lot of people, we have a lot of great substitutes… really great substitutes, a lot of of them are being considered for vice president.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has maintained a growing list of potential vice presidential candidates that includes Scott, Rubio, Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Rep. Elise Stefanik (RN.Y.) , Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Florida), among others.
The former president has been coy about who he prefers as his running mate, downplaying his potential impact on the November elections and signaling that he may not make an announcement until closer to the Republican National Convention scheduled for mid-July.
This left those vying for the vice president position to do whatever they could to stay in Trump’s good graces and get his attention to get a leg up on the competition. In many cases, that means going on television, where Trump frequently watches.
“Everyone is now very aware of what Trump thinks about things, and there’s no doubt that he sees through almost everything,” Sean Spicer, who served as one of Trump’s White House press secretaries, told The Hill. “It’s basically talking to him.”
It also gives them the opportunity to be in the forefront as Trump spends up to four days a week sitting in a courtroom during his secret trial in New York and away from the cameras.
Scott, the South Carolina senator who is seen as one of the strongest candidates to join the Republican ticket, repeatedly refused commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election, regardless of who wins, during a “Meet the Press” interview on Sunday. This appearance came days after Trump himself questioned whether he would accept the election results.
Vance, another potential vice presidential candidate, last week downplayed Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol and said he was skeptical that then-Vice President Mike Pence’s life was in danger. Trump has similarly downplayed the Jan. 6 violence throughout his 2024 campaign.
And Burgum went on CNN on Sunday to criticize the trial of silence in New York and defend some of Trump’s controversial comments during a donor retreat the day before, including one in which the former president compared the Biden administration to the Gestapo.
Having a group of surrogates hitting the airwaves is particularly beneficial for Trump at a time when he is in court on charges of falsifying business records over a secret payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the final days of the presidential campaign. 2016.
Trump speaks to reporters before and after court every day, typically making the same claims that he cannot participate in the campaign and that the case is political interference. Trump used days off from the trial to campaign on a limited basis, holding rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan but spending his free time playing golf and holding private fundraising events.
Trump strategists and allies have argued that it would be wise for Trump to continue to prolong the vice presidential selection process while the Manhattan case is ongoing.
“He’s not going to pick anyone right now because he’s in court and he needs everyone to be his strongest replacement,” said one Republican strategist. “And frankly, it’s a good test while everyone is fighting.”
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who suggested he would be open to a role in a future Trump administration, compared the current vice presidents to Trump’s career before politics.
“I think Trump is going to interpret this as ‘The Apprentice,’” McCarthy said Tuesday at the Milken Institute Conference. “He goes to play. He will make you come in [Truth Social] …And whoever you think is in the lead, someone will come from behind. It’s going to be great television.”
