OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has made some noise in speaking to a New York Times reporter. New York Times Magazine writer Robert Draper appeared on MSNBC on Saturday and said that the firebrand representative has said to him that she may be on the ticket with former President Donald Trump in 2024.
Trump is said to be looking for a female to campaign with him if he decides he will attempt to become president again in 2024. A decision he has not made. The writer said that it is “likely” that the former president has had the same conversations with other prominent Republican women.
“To be fair, Ali, it’s very likely that Trump has had this conversation with half a dozen other people too,” he said to host Ali Velshi.
But, he said, there is something she has that others may not have.
“What Greene possesses that Trump so craves is loyalty. She has always been there for Trump. She has always had his back and after his experience with his last running mate, Mike Pence, it’s clear that he’s going to prize loyalty above all else, so I wouldn’t count it out,” he said.
When Draper spoke to The Daily Beast’s “New Abnormal” podcast he said “that Greene had risen quickly in her first term in Congress by using the same tactics she honed as a right-wing social media influencer harassing Democratic staffers, and she could shoot to the second-highest office in government,” Raw Story reported.
“Republicans kind of wanted to kick her to the curb immediately,” said Draper, per the outlet. “But instead, she became a fundraising dynamo, came to have this huge social media influence, and ultimately came to be very influential within the party itself.”
Draper went on to say that Trump has been seriously discussing Greene as a potential VP since February, and though he has likely considered others as well, Greene has another quality that may propel her to the top, the report said.
“She has been unflaggingly loyal to Trump throughout,” Draper said. “What is Trump concerned about most of all in a VP after the Mike Pence experience? Loyalty. He knows that if he needs someone to fight for him to overturn a presidential election. He has every reason to expect that Greene would be by his side and would be his proximate warrior.”
Greene is not the only female Republican lawmaker under consideration by Trump, according to previous reports. Several recent reports seem focused on one name: New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, currently her party’s No. 3 ranking member.
In a September Foreign Policy story titled, “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.
Meanwhile, 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.
