OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
New York Times columnist and author Maggie Haberman caused a stir during an interview on ABC’s “The View” on Monday after saying who she thinks former President Donald Trump will pick as his running mate if he wants to run again in 2024.
After making her prediction, the co-hosts did not appear to be very enthused by it.
“There’s a couple of people whose names have been mentioned, and the one that actually gets mentioned the most by people close to him is Tim Scott from South Carolina, the senator, and then Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is possibly the next governor of Arkansas,” said Haberman to expressions of discontent from the left-wing women who co-host the show.
“I didn’t mean to cause that. I’m sorry,” she said ahead of the subject being changed to focus on Haberman’s new book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.”
“I want to get this right. He calls Ron DeSantis, quote, fat, phony, and whiny. Really? Donald Trump called some body fat. Do you think Trump really will run again, and can he win again? And tell me about how he’s feeling about Ron DeSantis because I love this tea,” co-host Anna Navarro said, referring to something Haberman wrote in her book.
“He is really focused on Ron DeSantis in a way he isn’t on almost anybody else. Because he knows not just that Ron DeSantis is seen by us and others or people who look at the political field as the person who can take on Trumpism without the erratic behavior, but donors really like Ron DeSantis, and he has raised a lot of money at a time when Donald Trump’s fundraising has slowed down, and that is very concerning,” Haberman responded.
WATCH:
While it seems as though Trump running for president again in 2024 is a foregone conclusion to many political analysts, there has been much speculation about who he will choose to run with him.
Many analysts believe Trump will choose a woman, and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik’s name has come up quite often.
In a new Foreign Policy piece, “Elise Stefanik Is Most Likely to Succeed,” the authors’ detail, “A young woman once hailed as the future of the Republican Party embraces Trumpism to stay that way.”
“At 30 years old, Stefanik had been the youngest woman ever to be elected to Congress in 2014. At a time when the party sought to reach a younger and more diverse pool of voters, she was hailed as the future of the Republican Party,” the report begins.
“Having hitched her cart firmly to Trump, Stefanik looks to have as bright a future within the Republican Party as when she was first elected to Congress eight years ago. She endorsed his still hypothetical candidacy for 2024—and has already been tipped as a potential running mate,” the story notes.
“While the former president and his progeny have repeatedly hinted that a third run for the White House may be in the works, some longtime conservative observers see the beginnings of a post-Trump future in the strategies of rising stars such as DeSantis, the Florida governor, and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Both DeSantis and Youngkin have toed a careful line, neither embracing the former president nor the suicide vest of never-Trumpism,” it adds.
Back in late May, CNN published a report speculating that Stefanik is likely a frontrunner.
While talk about a 2024 vice-presidential pick is of course premature, conversations about adding Stefanik to a future Trump ticket have gained steam in recent weeks at Mar-a-Lago and in other Republican circles, sources said. Current and former advisers and others in Trump’s orbit have privately argued that the New York Republican, who replaced Rep. Liz Cheney as the no. 3 House Republican last year, is a fierce and loyal attack dog, and Trump would benefit from tapping a woman for vice president should he run again.
Two people familiar with the matter said Trump has been surveying close friends and allies on what they think of Stefanik, one of several Republican women he is possibly eyeing for the potential VP slot, though he has not ruled out a few male contenders, too. One of these people said the former President believes Stefanik has undergone a genuine transformation – leaving the moderate wing of the party to join its increasingly powerful “America First” flank.
“There is a part of Trump who thinks he needs a female VP. He definitely likes her, likely because of how effusive she is to him,” an adviser to the former president said.
