Run on a Ticket With Donald Trump? No, Thanks, Many Republicans Say
It’s
a time-honored tradition for politicians to deny any interest in the
vice presidency. But this year, with the possibility of Donald J. Trump as the Republican nominee, they really mean it.
“Never,” said Chris Schrimpf, a spokesman for Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who is still running against Mr. Trump. “No chance.”
“Hahahahahahahahaha,” wrote Sally Bradshaw, a senior adviser to Jeb Bush, when asked if he would consider it.
“Scott
Walker has a visceral negative reaction to Trump’s character,” said Ed
Goeas, a longtime adviser to the Wisconsin governor.
Or, as Senator Lindsey Graham put it, “That’s like buying a ticket on the Titanic.”
A
remarkable range of leading Republicans, including Gov. Nikki Haley of
South Carolina and Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, have been emphatic
publicly or with their advisers and allies that they do not want to be
considered as Mr. Trump’s running mate. The recoiling amounts to a rare
rebuke for a front-runner: Politicians usually signal that they are not
interested politely through back channels, or submit to the selection
process, if only to burnish their national profiles.
But
Mr. Trump has a singular track record of picking fights with obvious
potential running mates like Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who has
indicated a lack of interest in the vice presidency generally and has
yet to reconcile with Mr. Trump publicly. Ms. Haley and another
potential pick, Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico, have sharply
criticized Mr. Trump at recent party gatherings and do not want to be
associated with his sometimes-angry tone, according to advisers and
close associates who have spoken with these Republicans.
Several
Republican consultants said their clients were concerned that Mr.
Trump’s unusually high unfavorable ratings with all voters and his
unpopularity among women and Hispanics could doom him as a general
election candidate and damage their own future political prospects if
they were on his ticket.
Still,
elected officials do have a way of coming around to the vice
presidency, and Mr. Trump said in an interview on Saturday that he was
in the early stages of mending fences and building deeper relationships
with leading Republicans. And in a sign of growing acceptance that Mr.
Trump is their likely nominee, several Republicans made it clear that
they would join him on the ticket because they think he can win, or
because they regard the call to serve as their duty.
Newt
Gingrich, the former House speaker, as well as Senator Jeff Sessions of
Alabama and the retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, said in interviews
that they would consider joining the ticket if Mr. Trump offered. Two
governors, Chris Christie of New Jersey and Mary Fallin of Oklahoma,
have also told allies that they were open to being Mr. Trump’s running
mate.
“If
a potential president says I need you, it would be very hard for a
patriotic citizen to say no,” Mr. Gingrich said. “People can criticize a
nominee, but ultimately there are very few examples of people turning
down the vice presidency.”
Mr.
Trump, who could well become the presumptive Republican nominee on
Tuesday by winning the Indiana primary, is just starting to mull
vice-presidential prospects and has no favorite in mind, he said in the
interview. Mr. Trump said he wanted someone with “a strong political
background, who was well respected on the Hill, who can help me with
legislation, and who could be a great president.”
He
declined to discuss potential picks in any detail, but he briefly
praised three governors as possible contenders — Mr. Kasich, Mr.
Christie and Rick Scott of Florida — and said he would also consider
candidates who were women, black or Hispanic. (A spokeswoman for Mr.
Scott said he was focused on being governor.)
Asked
if he was surprised about the array of Republicans who are
uncomfortable being his running mate, Mr. Trump said: “I don’t care.
Whether people support or endorse me or not, it makes zero influence on
the voters. Historically, people don’t vote based on who is vice
president. I want someone who can help me govern.”
A
cross section of leading Republicans agree that his most sensible
choice would be an experienced female governor or senator, given that he
would most likely face Hillary Clinton
in November and need support from a majority of white women to offset
her strong support among blacks and Hispanics. Yet Mrs. Clinton is
currently ahead of Mr. Trump with white women by double-digit
percentages, according to a recent CBS poll.
The
pool of Republican women in major offices is relatively small, and Mr.
Trump has already alienated some of them. Governor Haley denounced him
for not quickly disavowing support from the former Ku Klux Klan leader
David Duke, and Governor Martinez has criticized his remarks about
Hispanics.
Both
governors endorsed Senator Rubio for president; a Martinez spokesman
said she “isn’t interested in serving as vice president,” while a Haley
spokesman declined to comment.
“There
are some Republicans who would’ve said yes to running with Romney or
McCain or Bush but would say no to Trump,” said Curt Anderson, a
Republican strategist, referring to the party’s last three presidential
nominees. “The issue is, no one knows what we’re dealing with here. Is
it possible that Trump faces a historic landslide loss? Sure. Is it
possible he beats the hell out of Clinton? Sure. No one knows — no one
has predicted Trump right for a long time.”
Even
Governor Fallin of Oklahoma, who has not ruled out running with Mr.
Trump, has expressed uncertainty about what he would be like as a
leader, according to close associates who have spoken to her. Ms.
Fallin, in a brief statement, would not discuss Mr. Trump, but said the
nation’s challenges were too great for “business as usual” political
solutions. “Any discussion of other service I might be asked to offer to
my country is flattering but premature,” she said.
David
Winston, a veteran Republican pollster, said Mr. Trump’s first
challenge in finding a running mate was lowering his unfavorability
ratings of 60 percent or more, because prominent politicians would not
want to join his ticket if he cannot turn those figures around. Mr.
Winston dismissed the notion — put forward by some Trump advisers — that
the candidate could improve his ratings by picking a woman, a Hispanic,
or other figure with demographic appeal.
“He
simply won’t be able to convince any top-tier candidate to run with him
if he can’t get those unfavorable numbers down,” Mr. Winston said.
Mr.
Trump’s best hope may be Republican enmity for Mrs. Clinton, some
Republicans strategists said. They predicted that Mr. Trump would
ultimately have more options than his skeptics might assume because
Republicans will ultimately unify in June and July with a deep and
shared determination to beat her, and the traditional thrill of being
considered for vice president could then kick in.
“I
think he may have more choices than many people would suspect, because a
lot of people will be flattered to be asked,” said Russ Schriefer, a
Republican adviser to the Romney campaign in 2012 and to Mr. Christie
during his 2016 presidential bid.
Mr.
Schriefer emphasized that he had not talked to Mr. Christie about the
vice presidency, but other Christie confidants said that he supported
Mr. Trump strongly and would be willing to consider the No. 2 spot. A
Christie spokesman, asked about the governor’s willingness, pointed to
Mr. Christie’s response about the vice presidency at a recent news
conference, where he said he would evaluate the offer “for any position
in government.”
As
a political novice, Mr. Trump will be widely judged on whom he chooses —
and how and why he chooses the person — because voters and other
Republican leaders will look to his pick to evaluate his priorities for
the kind of advisers he would want as president.
“This
is a big deal because it’s the first major decision he’ll be making as
the nominee, and it’s important that the American public see his
decision-making process and how he goes through making such a big
decision,” said Scott W. Reed, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s senior
strategist.
Other
than elected officials, Mr. Trump also said he was open to people with
deep national security experience — which some Republicans think should
be his top criterion.
“What
Donald Trump needs is the most experienced, most qualified foreign
policy mind in Washington, and somebody that would immediately bring
calm to the choppy political waters that always seem to be around him,”
said Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida who
now hosts “Morning Joe” on MSNBC. He suggested Robert M. Gates, the
former defense secretary, but was more circumspect when asked if he was
willing to be Mr. Trump’s running mate himself.
“I
definitely have a lot of strong opinions about who it should be. (Not
me!!),” wrote Mr. Scarborough, who served on the House Armed Services
Committee and who has a good relationship with Mr. Trump.
Other
Republicans were more open about joining Mr. Trump on the ticket.
Senator Sessions, who is advising Mr. Trump on foreign policy, said he
would send his personal tax information to the Trump campaign if it
wanted to vet him. Mr. Carson, who was a Republican presidential
candidate and battled with Mr. Trump before dropping out and endorsing
him, said he would prefer to remain an outside adviser to Mr. Trump, but
added that he was willing to join the ticket if he would “bring
something that other people wouldn’t bring.”
For
others, the singular experience of being vice president in a Trump
administration is still hard to imagine. Buttonholed on Capitol Hill
last week, two prominent Republican senators, Tim Scott of South
Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine, almost giggled when asked if they
would be Mr. Trump’s running mate.
“I’m not waiting by my phone,” Ms. Collins said.
Mr.
Scott, whose appeal as a black Republican could be an advantage for Mr.
Trump, repeatedly sidestepped whether he would be willing to run with
Mr. Trump. Finally, asked if he would not rule himself out, he replied,
“I’m not ruling myself in.”
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/us/politics/donald-trump-vice-president.html
No comments:
Post a Comment