While the slow hoisting of President Joe Biden on his own malfunctioning petard has consumed most of the news in the election cycle lately, there are two looming matters on the agenda that don’t involve the president’s slow self-immolation tour: the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next week and the matter of former President Donald Trump’s veepstakes.
It’s enough, in fact, that news outlets and social media users alike jumped as Trump hinted — or “teases,” to use NBC News’ verbiage, because I guess they couldn’t work “pounces” in there somehow — he might reveal his chosen running mate in Florida on Tuesday night.
He didn’t, but the presumptive GOP nominee did compliment Florida Sen. Marco Rubio during an interview with a Miami TV station and name-checked him as a possible vice presidential pick during his speech at a rally in Doral, Florida, at the Trump National Doral Golf Club, after Rubio gave a speech to the crowd.
Indeed, team Trump had the media in a tizzy over the possible pick thanks to emails and texts like these, reposted on social media:
Text from Trump hints he may announce his VP today
Could be clickbait, but it’s evident he’s going to announce it within a week at the very latest pic.twitter.com/cZHFQSScSt
— Red Eagle Politics (@RedEaglePatriot) July 9, 2024
Holy crap! do you think President Trump will really announce his VP pick tonight? 🍿 pic.twitter.com/q1bSBBd8FB
— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) July 9, 2024
Trump hints at announcing his VP pick tonight during his Florida rally, according to donor texts and emails.
Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/qt4h3DBefD
— AF Post (@AFpost) July 9, 2024
The former president did not announce his choice, although big hints were there.
“I think they probably think I’m going to be announcing that Marco is going to be vice president, because that’s a lot of press,” Trump told the crowd.
And he told Miami’s WTVJ-TV in an interview before the event Rubio would “certainly” play a role in his campaign.
“He’s a fantastic guy, and he’s a friend of mine,” Trump said. “And he’s one of the top people. Let’s see how we do over the next week.”
While the presumptive GOP nominee said he had already made his mind up on his running mate pick several weeks ago, he indicated to Fox News’ Sean Hannity during a phone interview Monday that he was mulling over alternatives in part due to the uncertainty over who he might be facing on the Democrat side after Biden’s disastrous June 27 debate performance.
“I haven’t made a final decision, but I have some ideas as to where we’re going,” Trump said.
“And a little bit, you know, we wanted to see what they’re doing, to be honest,” he said. “Because, you know, it might make a difference. I don’t know. I’m not sure that it would, but there are those who say Trump’s waiting until he finds out what’s going to happen with crooked Joe Biden, and we’ll see what happens with Biden.”
Indeed, the South Florida event wasn’t just notable for teasing vice presidential possibilities, although it was notable for that. (And that doesn’t just apply to Rubio, mind you; as NBC News noted, even though he’s the governor of North Dakota, top veepstakes candidate Doug Burgum has most of his donor base in Miami.)
Will Trump make his VP announcement this week?
Trump, NBC News said, “noticeably aimed sharper insults at Vice President Kamala Harris, who could be his general election opponent if Biden steps aside.”
In his pre-event interview with WTVJ, the former president also talked more about Biden’s debate performance, something Trump has been unusually quiet about over the past two weeks. (And, in all fairness, when your opponent can’t get out of his own way, best to not say anything at all.)
“It wasn’t the greatest performance I’ve ever seen … I thought he looked very pale,” Trump said.
“After a couple of minutes, I was saying, what’s going here? …. It was amazing as an event, but it was a little bit strange,” he said.
Well, yes, you don’t say. Whatever the case, the possibility of nominee Harris — or someone else completely — could upend what states are in play and what the priorities are.
That being said, it sounds self-evident that Rubio is, at the very least, near the top of the running, along with Burgum, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
And if he doesn’t announce which one it is this week, it could give the Republican National Convention a bit of added juice by withholding, all while the president continues to implode.
