The probably Republican nominee for president suggested that Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem were two whom he liked because they were “fighting for him.”
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Former president Donald Trump floated the names of two Republicans he is considering as possible vice-presidential running mates as his selection to again be his party’s nominee for U.S. leader seems more and more assured.
While telling Fox’s Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that he is “speaking to everybody” and has not decided yet, when pressed he mentioned both Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as people who he sees as those “who would be a good president” if something should happen to him.
The African-American Scott had made a brief push to run in the Republican primaries but had too little support to make it past the very first televised debates last year.
Displaying his well-known affinity for those who are loyal to him, he mentioned that Scott “gave me a beautiful endorsement.” Moreover, he said, “I watched him in the last week defending me and sticking up for me and fighting for me” and told the senator that ‘You’re a much better person for me than you are for yourself,’ because for himself he was low-key.”
Noem, he continued, “has been incredible fighting for me.” He also liked that she had said she would “never” run against Trump “because I can’t beat him.”
“That was a very nice thing to say,” he said.
Trump’s remarks could be seen as an indirect slap at Nikki Haley, Trump’s former UN ambassador who has stayed in the nominating race as a more moderate and younger voice than her erstwhile boss, who is turning 78 in June and is infamous for his mercurial personality. She appointed Tim Scott to the Senate in 2012 as governor of South Carolina, and has made it clear that she is staying in the race because feels she can still overcome Trump’s so-far overwhelming lead in all Republican polls and victories in the initial primaries.
She has ruled out her continued presence as a bid for the vice-presidency, and Trump himself said last month that Haley “cannot do this job,” because “She’s not tough enough. She’s not smart enough. And she wasn’t respected enough.”
Scott reportedly worked well with Trump when he was in the White House, but he does have one perhaps indelible stain on his record as far as the former president’s most ardent follower are concerned. He (along with many other Republican senators) voted in favor of certifying President Biden’s 2020 election victory, which Trump still claims was “stolen” from him. He has also said that then-vice president Mike Pence had “absolutely” done the correct thing by going against Trump on the issue.
Other candidates that have been mentioned as possible seconds include New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, who voted against certifying Biden’s electoral votes from her state, and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as Trump’s press secretary from 2017-2019.