Trump’s VP Contender Hit By Devastating News Just Weeks To Official Running Mate Announcement
Donald Trump will not pick Marco Rubio as his running mate for the 2024 presidential election due to the Florida Senator mocking Trump’s hand size during the 2016 Republican primary, according to Anthony Scaramucci, former White House communications director.
Scaramucci shared this insight on “The Rest is Politics U.S.” podcast, adding that Trump is likely to choose “a white guy” and is seeking a “Mike Pence 2.0” for his vice-presidential candidate. As reported by Newsweek on Saturday, June 22, 2024, Speculation about Trump’s choice of running mate has been rife since he became the presumptive GOP presidential candidate in March.
His falling out with former Vice President Mike Pence, who refused to support Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, has fueled this speculation.
In February, Trump mentioned several potential candidates for the vice-presidential role, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Senator Tim Scott, Rep. Byron Donalds, biotech tycoon Vivek Ramaswamy, and former House Democrat Tulsi Gabbard.
Other rumored contenders include North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and Senators J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio. Scaramucci, who was dismissed by Trump shortly after being appointed communications director in July 2017, explained that Rubio’s comments during the 2016 GOP primary are a key reason why Trump will not select him as a running mate.
Rubio had mocked Trump’s hand size, which led to a memorable retort from Trump, who held up his hands at a campaign event and asked, “Look at those hands, are they small hands?” Scaramucci said, “Marco called it out on the campaign, there is no way he’s picking Marco Rubio. No way! Because he doesn’t want that replay on all the liberal media, he’s not going to go with that.”
Scaramucci, who now supports President Biden, also suggested that Trump’s choice of a white male running mate would be driven by his narcissism. According to Scaramucci, Trump would avoid selecting someone like Tim Scott to prevent any suggestion that his success was due to help from a minority candidate.
Instead, Trump would prefer a “nondescript back-seater” similar to Pence. Earlier in the week, social media users noted that the web address trumpburgum.com redirected to Trump’s official campaign website, sparking speculation that North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum could be a potential running mate. Representatives for Donald Trump and Senator Marco Rubio have not yet commented on these speculations.
