Report Hints at Big Change if Trump Runs in 2024

Bloomberg reports former president is talking about ditching Mike Pence
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 4, 2021 11:17 AM CST
If Trump Runs in 2024, Expect One Big Change
In this Jan. 9, 2019, file photo, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., left, and Sen. John Thune, R-SD, stand with then-President Trump, then-VP Mike Pence, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Donald Trump is dropping hints about a possible run in 2024, but he's not saying for sure. Now Bloomberg reports that while the president is "strongly considering" the possibility, he's also talking privately about finding a replacement for Mike Pence. The story is based on anonymous insiders familiar with the discussions. Pence and Trump ended their administration on rocky terms, after Pence declined to declare Trump the 2020 winner while presiding over the Senate's certification of votes. More:

  • Options: The Bloomberg story reports that Trump, if he runs, is being encouraged to pick a female or a Black running mate, given that he struggled with both demographics in the election. This week, Trump issued a public endorsement of South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the Senate's only Black Republican. And Donald Trump Jr. is hosting a fundraiser on Friday for South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.

  • Trump-Trump? At New York, Ed Kilgore raises the idea of a Trump-Trump ticket, with his running mate one of the Trump children or perhaps daughter-in-law Lara Trump. One thing to watch is where the younger Trumps establish residence, which could have strategic benefits in the 2024 election.
  • Where's Jared? CNN reports on another change in Trump world: When the former president spoke at CPAC last week, one key adviser was "conspicuously absent": son-in-law Jared Kushner. Is the split permanent? Depends on whom you ask. The story talks to insiders who say Trump is angry at Kushner, others who say Kushner is the one angry at Trump, and still others who say that Kushner is merely taking a break from politics.
  • Denial: The Washington Examiner quotes a senior adviser who dismisses the idea that Trump is considering a Pence-less ticket "fake news."
  • Pence's op-ed: On Wednesday, Pence came out with an op-ed criticizing Democrats' plan to overhaul voting rules. In doing so, he perpetuated what Michael McGough of the Los Angeles Times calls the "Little Lie"—"not that the election was elaborately rigged (as Trump claimed in his Big Lie), but that its integrity is questionable because of pandemic-inspired changes in election procedures." It signals to McGough that Pence is still interested in doing Trump's "dirty work" and would like to be on a future ticket.
(More Donald Trump stories.)

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