Jay Weber Show transcript 1-22-24 7:10
My friends- Nikki Haley- would- have made sense as Donald Trump’s running mate.
I never expected it to occur. Especially not after people like Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon insisted, they’d rail against the ticket if trump ever chose her.... given what a soft, fake conservative she is.
I never expected her to get the gig, but it would have made sense to bring in a person who has proven to be a very good campaigner on the stump and a woman who appeals to the more moderate voter and the suburban mom crowd-which Trump, and the GOP are going to need to win some of these swing states- like Wisconsin.
There’s just too much bad blood between the two of them-and their campaigns, now.
And over the weekend, Trump dismissed the idea during his rally....and Haley made it clear she had no interest in Veep
She’d look foolish flip-flopping on statements that ‘categorical’, and trump doesn’t seem to want her, anyway.
It’s up to his strategists and the ‘smart people’ he has put around him to convince him to make a strategic VP pick.
So far, I am underwhelmed with the names that have swirled- aside from senator Tim Scott and congressmen Byron Donalds as genuine men of character and brains- who are also black and could convince a bigger sliver of the black vote to vote trump.
As well as -maybe-Sarah Huckabee sanders out of the list of women being bandied about.
None of the other names impress me-because they are trump sycophants who would only be selected because they stroke trump’s ego, rather than help the ticket.
For example: Tim Scott helps the ticket because he’s level-headed and reasonable. He’s more consistently conservative than trump. He’s more optimistic in his tone. And he’s black.
Byron Donalds might be a little young, but he’s very smart, he’s great with the media, he pushes back on liberal foolishness. And he’s black.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the governor of Arkansas. She’s walked thru the fires of being Donald trump’s press secretary. She appeals to middle-aged moms, and she, too, would be great at pushing back on the MSM narratives without being nasty or off-putting herself.
That’s about it. The others being talked about have limited value-or might harm-the ticket.
For example: Kristi Noem of South Dakota. She has limited value, being the governor of a low population state, and she comes off ‘fake’ to other women. She’s a diehard trump loyalist who desperately wants the gig, but she doesn’t add much to the ticket.
I wouldn’t ‘hate’ the pick, though.
Elise Stefanik of New York would be the same sort of pick: she just doesn’t ‘do anything’ to expand the ticket. She’s from New York. She’s sort of ‘soft Maga’. She’s had her moments in the media. I just don’t see the mass appeal.
Again-I wouldn’t hate the selection, but I don’t see what it does for the ticket.
I’d-hate- a Kari Lake selection. She’d be a net negative for the ticket. She’s too far invested in ‘stolen election’ schemes and wallowing only in the Maga waters. She has no broader appeal...and probably turns off the very suburban moms we’d need a woman on the ticket to help pull in.
She’s said to be supremely arrogant and a witch to work for or deal with. It’s all downside with her.
JD Vance is another ‘push’. No one really knows who he is-and trump can already win Ohio. He doesn’t need an Ohio connection to tip it in his direction.
Mike Pompeo is very smart. I love Pompeo. But he’s another old white guy who doesn’t ‘add’ anyone or draw anyone new under the tent.
And talking about Tucker Carlson is stupid. He’s got his own little ‘niche cult’ of supporters. I get it. A lot of us like tucker. But he can talk stupid, too, at times. And he’s a media star. It looks unserious and silly to add him to a ticket.
It just does.
And so- there’s my analysis of the so-called ‘short list’ of Donald Trump vice presidents. Three would be acceptable to me- and add something. Two very strong black conservative men who would add something genuine to the ticket...because they aren’t affirmative action choices or being picked just for their skin color-as Kamala Harris was.
By the way-dr. Ben Carson’s name has also come up. I like him, too, but not as a VP candidate. He’s a slow talker. Unexciting. Older. Doesn’t have any experience in elected office...and wouldn’t appeal to black conservative voters like Scott or Donalds would, in my opinion.
He comes off as ‘black but elite’. Scott and Donalds don’t. I like them, better for the choice.
And- a middle aged mom, herself, in Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who has walked thru glass for Trump and the republican party -and is smart and tough in her own right.
And here, too, folks, the person trump chooses is going to be seen as his successor-in-waiting, given that he’s 77 years old and there are no guarantees.
We need someone who voters could see as taking the reins on day one- unlike kamala Harris. Her approval rating is worse than President Biden’s, which is something we’ve never seen before,
And it is, because Harris has exposed herself as such a cackling fraud over the last three years.
It turns out this woman was not as bright or hard working as most dc democrats thought she was- and it turns out she has no interest in working hard and learning to do the job well-if joe dies-and she is thrust into the position.
Scott, Sanders, Donalds, as smart people-would be either ready on day one-or are clearly capable of riding a quick ‘learning curve’. Kammy isn’t.
As for Nikki Haley- I wonder if she’s saying ‘no’ to that possibility because she wants to stay in this primary race if she can-in case something happens to Trump along the way.
I’m getting vibes from both the Haley and the DeSantis campaigns that both might want to do this.
Ron DeSantis has no way of doing well over the next three or four states-and yet he’s telling donors that he plans to stay in at least thru super Tuesday and see what happens.
Really?
Then that’s a guy who’s just waiting for Donald Trump to have a stroke or a coronary at the defendant’s table at one of his trials.
Because DeSantis has-no pathway to the nomination-otherwise.
It only becomes two-person race four weeks from now- if Nikki Haley drops out after South Carolina.
Maybe she will. Or maybe she’s planning on throttling back like DeSantis is, already, and going on ‘stroke watch’, too...
And look-she may as well drop out after South Carolina-because none of the other states set up better for her: the GOP grassroots simply doesn’t want her brand of old-school, neo-con, bush era triangulating and big-govt thinking.
DeSantis at least lines up with ¾ of the grassroots- in what they’d want in a candidate if trump died or stroked out before convention.
And no- a guilty verdict in one of these trials won’t reset the race before the convention-because we aren’t likely to have one.
If one is coming that means anything-it would be from the Georgia tampering charges or the two federal cases jack smith oversees.
Well, Fani’s grifting and jack smiths’ maneuvering are both leading to delayed trial dates and virtually no chance that we’ll have time for any trials or convictions before the convention this summer.
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