It has been anyone’s guess who Trump could pick as a running mate. Now we know who Trump’s thinking.
Because Trump’s VP pick leaked and now all hell is breaking loose.
Former President Donald Trump is allegedly contemplating Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) as his vice presidential nominee if he wins the Republican Party presidential primary.
Stefanik has declared that she will campaign for Trump in New Hampshire ahead of the state’s first-in-the-nation primaries next week.
According to NBC News, Trump sources believe the New York representative is at the top of Trump’s list “because she possesses one of the key attributes he’s looking for in a 2024 running mate: loyalty.”
One Republican campaign operative told the outlet, “If you’re Trump, you want someone who’s loyal above all else. Particularly because he sees Mike Pence as having made a fatal sin.”
According to NBC, Stefanik was mentioned as a prospective vice presidential candidate over a meal with Mar-a-Lago members in late December, when the discussion shifted to who Trump might choose as his running mate if he won the primary.
The attendees of the gathering reportedly “raved about [Stefanik’s] viral moment just weeks before, when she grilled three university presidents at a congressional hearing about antisemitism on campus.”
During the hearing, the congresswoman repeatedly asked the presidents of Harvard, UPenn, and MIT whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated their respective colleges’ bullying and harassment rules.
According to one attendee, when Trump was asked about contemplating her, he responded, “She’s a killer.”
Stefanik, according to NBC, was once considered a “moderate Republican” who worked on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.
Stefanik now has a grade of 48%, an “F” in Conservative Review’s grading system, placing her ahead of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) but behind Romney.
Conservatives lambasted her for first voting for the pro-LGBT Equality Act in 2019, only to later withdraw her support for the bill.
Stefanik was also one of 47 House Republicans who voted in 2022 to pass legislation legalizing same-s*x marriage.
Stefanik became an ardent supporter of Trump following his victory in the 2016 election. The lawmaker worked on Trump’s 2019 impeachment defense team and was one of over a hundred House Republicans who signed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn Biden’s electoral victory.
She is currently facing a censure from House Democrats for referring to January 6 criminal suspects as “hostages.”
Speaker Mike Johnson has lauded Stefanik’s leadership in the House, where she chairs the House Republican Conference, saying, “She’s one of the best leaders and communicators in Congress.”
Stefanik did not rule out being Trump’s vice president in a recent interview with NBC News, stating, “Well, I, of course, would be honored to serve in any capacity in a Trump administration.”
Only time will tell if Trump decides to go with Stefanik.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
