Donald Trump put an end to all speculation when he stated that he would not be considering Nikki Haley as his running mate. The former president took to his social media network, Truth Social, and stated. “Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the V.P. slot, but I wish her well!”
Advisers say that Trump is in no hurry to pick a running mate as he will not be formally nominated as the presidential candidate for the Republican Party till the party’s convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July. Till then, advisers believe the former president has many options to choose from, such as North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, and J.D. Vance, and U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik.
Trump has already served one term as president, so if he should win November’s election, he would in effect be a lame-duck president as he cannot serve beyond his second term. That means his vice-presidential pick could have greater power and look to take the presidential post once he retires.
Coming to Haley, it was unlikely that Trump would ever have nominated her as his running mate. Despite an Axios report quoting former Trump advisers stating that the former president would have considered it should she have been able to help him with his legal problems, Trump and Haley’s recent bitter history made that all but impossible.
Haley’s refusal to stand down against Trump in the Republican primaries and her refusal to endorse him once he had defeated her in the primary elections in March meant that the bitterness was likely to remain. Instead, in her closing speech in March, she said that Trump needed to work to win the votes of moderate Republicans and independent voters who had voted for her.
“It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him, and I hope he does that,” she said. “At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing.”
(Reuters and other agencies)
