Beards? OK. Another Florida man? More challenging. Trump dishes on imminent VP pick
A vice president who has a beard is fine, but living in the same state or pushing tough anti-abortion measures are more problematic.
That’s according to Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican White House nominee who took questions about his soon-to-be-announced running mate from Fox News radio on Wednesday.
Speculation about who Trump will pick as the GOP vice presidential nominee is reaching a crescendo this week in advance of the Republican National Convention, which kicks off Monday in Milwaukee. Trump said he’ll make his pick “close to the convention.”
The former president in recent weeks has narrowed his focus to Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
Asked Wednesday if that list should be expanded, Trump said “You could, but I think I’m pretty well set in my own mind.”
Rubio was with Trump at a rally in Miami on Tuesday, while Vance will be at a Trump campaign rally in rural western Pennsylvania on Saturday.
The VP discussion took a surprise twist this week when questions arose about whether Vance’s beard could hurt his chances.
Not so, says Trump, who is known to dislike beards but responded to a question about Vance’s facial hair disqualifying him be saying: “No, I’ve never heard that one.”
“He still looks good, he looks like a young Abraham Lincoln,” Trump added.
Trump wasn’t completely dismissive about Burgum’s abortion bill and Rubio’s residency issues complicating their VP chances, though.
Burgum signed legislation in North Dakota that bans abortion in nearly all circumstances, with limited exceptions.
“Well, it’s a little bit of an issue, it’s a pretty strong ban,” Trump said. “You know, I think Doug is great but he’s taken a very strong stance, or the state has. I don’t know if it’s Doug but the state has. So it’s an issue, everything is an issue.”
Trump also said that he and Rubio living in the state wouldn’t stop him from picking the Florida senator as a running mate “but it does make it more complicated.”
“You do that and it makes it more complicated, there are people that don’t have that complication,” Trump said.
The Constitution doesn’t bar a presidential ticket with two people from the same state, but if that happens the delegates from Florida could only vote for one of the two. That could present problems.
“They take delegates and taking delegates is a very risky thing to do,” Trump said.
Trump said the problem is “fairly easily fixed.” Either he or Rubio could move to another state. That's how fellow Texans George W. Bush and Dick Cheney handled the situation when they won the White House in 2000, with Cheney decamping to Wyoming.
But “it’s not like picking some people where it’s very easy, where there is none of that,” Trump added.
The Bulwark published an article on Tuesday quoting an anonymous Trump confidant about Vance’s beard.
“J.D. has a beard. But Trump is a clean-shaven guy. He just doesn’t like facial hair,” the individual said. “You just never know.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump dishes on final candidates to be his vice president
