Start churning the rumor mill again: A potential Donald Trump running mate visited Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Monday.
In a social media post, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York — best known at the moment for being the Republican who got Ivy League presidents to testify before Congress that calls for genocide against Jews would only be considered against their code of conduct depending on the context — posted a picture of her meeting with former President Trump on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Great meeting at Mar-a-Lago with my friend President Trump! The stakes could not be higher,” she wrote.
“Patriots will continue to unite behind President Trump’s campaign to #SaveAmerica. It’s all on the line. Let’s do this!”
Great meeting at Mar-a-Lago with my friend President Trump!
The stakes could not be higher. Patriots will continue to unite behind President Trump’s campaign to #SaveAmerica.
It’s all on the line. Let’s do this! 🇺🇸@TeamTrump pic.twitter.com/J5s66ZjD2y
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) December 18, 2023
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Trump, who continues to hold a wide lead in the polls, has been rumored to favor a woman as a vice presidential candidate since the early days of his third presidential campaign.
President Trump met with Elise Stefanik at Mar-a-Lago this afternoon.
Many conservative pundits believe a woman will be Trump’s VP. What are your thoughts on a potential Stefanik ticket. pic.twitter.com/eKUtUKG5N2
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) December 18, 2023
In March, Axios reported that four women were at the top of his veepstakes shortlist: former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, 2022 Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former Trump White House press secretary.
Do you think Tucker Carlson would be a good VP?
The Trump campaign pushed back on the report, saying that “those who are playing the media game are doing so at their own peril.” However, the throughline that Trump would want to pick a woman as his running mate has stayed relatively unchanged, even as former Housing and Urban Development secretary and 2016 presidential candidate Ben Carson and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson have entered the mix, according to reports.
Tucker in particular seems to have emerged as a favorite, with an Axios report earlier this month that Melania Trump was pushing for him to be second on the ticket. (Carlson subsequently told an interviewer that “God would have to yell at me very loud” in order for him to take the gig.)
Responding to the Tucker rumors on Sean Spicer’s Newsmax show, Steve Bannon — former White House adviser and chief executive of Trump’s 2016 campaign — said he thought Carlson would make a good veep but that he was another one who believed Trump would pick a woman. The only question is who it would be, with Bannon listing the four Axios reported along with Stefanik, Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, and South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, inter alia.
If Trump is the nominee — and polls have long trended in that direction — he doesn’t have to pick until next summer’s Republican National Convention, of course, so there’s still plenty of time to vet and see who handles the spotlight the best.
Lake, it’s worth noting, has already jumped in the race for the Arizona Senate seat currently held by Kyrsten Sinema and is the front-runner there; bowing out to take the running-mate slot would leave the GOP in a lurch in one of the most likely upper-chamber pick-ups in 2024, which might take her out of the race. Noem, who at one point might have been considered the beau ideal of a running mate by the Trump campaign, has taken a hit after reports of an affair emerged in September.
Mace was only first elected to federal office in 2020 and Sanders to gubernatorial office in 2022, meanwhile, making them relative newcomers. Stefanik was first elected in 2014 and is chair of the House Republican Conference, giving her significantly more experience than those two.
However, not everyone approved of the decision, with one social media poll showing 60 percent against it. One user cited her “support of the FBI’s overreach of warrantless searches.”
Vote in our poll. 40% approve / 60% disapprove of Trump-Stefanik ticket after 500 votes. https://t.co/ih6nnR4JJ4
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) December 18, 2023
She voted in support of the FBI’s overreach of warrantless searches. She doesn’t care about the freedom, privacy and 4th amendment rights of citizens so I hope she gets primaried and loses her ability to vote in favor of the establishment instead of the American people.
— TeasLindsay™ (@TexasLindsay_) December 18, 2023
Again, all of this is speculation — and will remain as such until well into the primary process. But it’s not uninformed speculation, and Stefanik’s appearance at Mar-a-Lago did little to disabuse pundits of the notion that she’s very much in the running to be Trump’s running mate.
