Steve Bannon says Donald Trump will pick a woman to be VP: Former president’s strategist lists his top female picks from Nancy Mace to Kristi Noem

• Steve Bannon appeared on Sean Spicer’s show on Friday evening
• He said he did not think Trump would select Tucker Carlson as his vice president
• ‘I believe President Trump will have a female vice president,’ he said

Steve Bannon thinks Donald Trump will shrug off the growing hype around Tucker Carlson and pick a woman as his running mate for the 2024 presidential election.

Speculation is swirling about who might join the Republican frontrunner’s ticket.

And Trump, who likes to keep the world guessing, has hinted that the former Fox News star could be the man for the job.

But Bannon, who was chief executive of Trump’s 2016 campaign, played down the idea on Friday evening when he appeared on Sean Spicer’s show.

‘Now, if you ask if he was a likely candidate now … I don’t think so,’ he said. ‘My thinking is very structured that I believe President Trump will have a female vice president.’

Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon told Sean Spicer that he believes the Republican frontrunner will pick a woman for VP, but it won’t be Nikki Haley

He used the interview to run through the possibles, as well as some of the impossibles, such as former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who has been branded by Trump supporters as too establishment.

‘I think it’s very important for America First, to make sure it ain’t Nikki Haley,’ he said.

With eight months until the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Trump has plenty of time to make his decision.

Only one thing is certain: It won’t be his 2016 and 2020 running mate Mike Pence, who emerged as one of the most anti-Trump voices on the campaign trail this year. 

Although a Sen. Tim Scott or a Rep. Byron Donald or a Ben Carson would make a good choice, said Bannon: ‘I think you’ve got a half a dozen to a dozen women who are very viable.’

He then listed six names as possibles including South Carolina Gov. Kristi Noem and even Rep. Nancy Mace, who turned against Trump min the wake of the Jan. 6 violence.

Kristi Noem

Midwesterner Kristi Noem could provide a geographical balance if selected as running mate

‘Kristi Noem I think will be very competitive given her understanding of the MAGA movement … came out of the Tea Party,’ said Bannon. ‘Very close to President Trump.’

She has long been connected with a potential Trump ticket and has made clear that she would be interested in the job.

As a two-term governor, the 52-year-old also has the kind of winning streak that impresses Trump. 

But she remains untested on the national stage. And the married mother-of-four has seen her conservative values questioned after being linked romantically to former Trump aide Corey Lewandowski, who has been involved in a number of headline generating brushes with the law.

That may not bother Trump. 

Elise Stefanick 

U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik is a rising star who has caught Trump’s eye

The 39-year-old five-time congresswoman has made the transition from establishment conservative to Trump enforcer in recent years.

She was Trump’s impeachment defense team and got in her 2024 endorsement early, before the former president even launched his campaign last year. 

Bannon said she had only improved her credentials during the past two weeks with the way she held university leaders to account for their campus antisemitism positions, or lack thereof. 

‘What she’s done over the last couple or weeks, on the antisemitism and how she’s handled herself and comported herself,’ he said.

Nancy Mace

Nancy Mace may have ruled herself out by publicly condemning Trump’s role in the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021

When the Daily Mail polled Republicans in New Hampshire during the summer on their pick to be vice president, the top woman was Kari Lake, followed by Nikki Haley

Spicer reacted with astonishment when Bannon raised the prospect of Mace.

‘You really think after the things that she has said about President Trump?’ he asked, pointing out that Trump wouldn’t want someone who would outshine him.

Mace turned against Trump after the Jan. 6 riot and he responded in kind, endorsing her primary challenger.

‘I think Nancy Mace would have to be included on the list,’ he said, after pointing out that she had also voted for him to go to prison.

‘First off, just her Trumpian attitude. She comes at this with a brashness and a set of titanium balls.  You know, Trump loves fight, right? And so I think she’s got a devil may care, in-your-grill …’ attitude

Kari Lake

Kari Lake narrowly missed out in the election for governor of Arizona last year and has modelled her approach on Trump’s bombastic style 

‘I think Kari Lake can be very prominent,’ said Bannon, even if she did not have any governing experience.

Instead, he said the 54-year-old former news anchor, who narrowly lost the race to be Arizona governor last year, could have a different value to Trump.

Her broadcast experience and slick presentation could help him sell policies as a new administration battles problems on multiple fronts. 

‘Let’s think about what the second term is going to be. Its going to be a grind,’ he said. I mean, you’ve got geopolitical crises, you have a financial capital markets economic crises, you have nine million illegal aliens here for deportation, there’s so many … 

The president’s going to need to give some of those not just for execution, but also for selling the program.  I think I think Kerry Lake could be terrific in that.

Kim Reynolds

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds would have been a leading contender if she had not endorsed Trump rival Ron DeSantis for the Republican 2024 nomination

Reynolds and Trump in happier times at the White House in May 2020

‘I would have said Kim Reynolds would have been on the shortlist,’ said Bannon. Before, that is, she broke ranks and endorsed Trump rival Ron DeSantis.

Reynolds is the popular governor of Iowa, making her something of a rising star in the conservative movement. She has foreign policy chops and was frequently spoken of as a potential Trump VP.

Now her best bet is likely to be if DeSantis manages to turn around his campaign and beat Trump to the nomination.

Spicer said she had gone out on a limb with her endorsement. 

‘Not just out on a limb: A kamikaze mission,’ replied Bannon. ‘What can’t you read in the numbers and about the organisation and the movement?’

She would have been in the top-five of potential picks but for that. 

The bottom line, added Bannon, was that there was a very strong slate of potential vice presidential picks.

He also mentioned Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, who was Trump’s press secretary at the White House, and Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who was talked of as a possible 2016 VP pick.

‘I think you’ve got a half a dozen to a dozen women who are very viable, right,’ said Bannon. 

Source: Read Full Article