OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a businessman, would be a “fool’s errand” to select as vice president in 2024, according to former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
During an interview on Fox’s “Outnumbered,” co-host Dana Perino asked about Ramaswamy — who withdrew from the GOP race and has endorsed former President Donald Trump — and the likelihood of Trump selecting him as his running mate.
“I think slim to none,” McEnany said. “First, Jason Miller was asked about this — he advises President Trump — and he said no to Vivek. However, that was before Vivek dropped out.”
McEnany informed Perino that Republican voters do not seek a vice presidential candidate who is a “carbon copy of the nominee.” He went on to explain that including Ramaswamy would be politically pointless since he does not increase Trump’s support base.
“Vivek and Trump, they pick up the same base of voters. It’s the MAGA voters, the conservative voters,” McEnany said. “You want someone who’s going to add to your ticket. I think we’re at a moment in time similar to 1980 where Reagan chose George H.W. Bush to unify the Republican Party.”
While his rivals in the 2024 primary campaign attacked Trump, Ramaswamy consistently lauded and defended the outgoing president.
“Trump needs every single Republican vote, so choosing someone who is just like him, I think, is a fool’s errand,” McEnany said.
WATCH:
The closer the country gets to the November elections, the better former President Donald Trump appears to be doing against President Joe Biden when it comes to a range of key issues facing the country.
In a newly released ABC/IPSOS poll, respondents were asked to state which candidate — Trump or Biden — they believed would better handle a series of key issues in the country, including crime, immigration, the economy, guns, and more.
In general, it seems that Americans express greater confidence in Trump’s ability to address key current issues compared to Biden. For example, 43 percent trust Trump to manage the economy, whereas only 31 percent feel the same about Biden, giving Trump a +12 advantage, according to the survey.
Forty-one percent indicated they have more faith in Trump’s ability to address the issue of crime in the country, while only 28 percent expressed the same confidence in Biden. Additionally, Trump holds a ten-point lead in handling inflation, an 18-point lead in managing immigration, a one-point lead in addressing gun violence, and a three-point lead in dealing with matters concerning Ukraine and Russia. Also, Trump has an eight-point advantage on Israel and Hamas.
Breitbart News, citing the survey’s results, added:
Biden appears to have the edge on issues traditionally more important to leftists. For instance, he has a 17-point advantage on climate change and a nine-point advantage on abortion; Biden also leads by ten points on healthcare, seven points on education, and ten points on classified documents. The classified documents trust is ironic, given the bombshell report from Special Counsel Robert Hur, who essentially said Biden is too mentally incompetent to prosecute for his classified documents scandal, pointing to several instances of Biden having an extremely poor memory.
Biden’s age has become one of his biggest drawbacks, as poll after poll has shown most Americans, as well as a significant number of Democrats, believe he’s too old to serve a second four-year term.
According to a separate survey this week, almost half of voters believe that he won’t ultimately be the party’s nominee and that someone else will take his place before the election.
According to a new Monmouth University poll released Thursday, which was conducted between Feb. 8 and Feb. 12, 48 percent of respondents think that Biden will be replaced before the election. Meanwhile, 32 percent said they think former President Donald Trump won’t ultimately be the GOP nominee because of his ongoing legal troubles.
“The voters that think Biden will be replaced generally cited concerns about his age, physical health, and mental stamina as reasons for why,” USA Today reported, citing the survey.
Questions surrounding Biden’s age and mental acuity have been an issue for Biden throughout his presidency, but concerns have only increased after special counsel Robert Hur released a damning report that described the president as a “well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”
“The Hur report doesn’t seem to have shifted public opinion on whether Biden mishandled classified documents. At the same time, it probably has done more to reinforce existing views of Biden’s physical and mental vigor. When we asked a different question about each candidate’s age back in the fall, there was already a wide gap in concern about Biden compared with Trump,” Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, noted in a statement along with the survey.
However, in total, 51 percent of voters are at least somewhat confident in Trump’s ability to fulfill presidential responsibilities, while only 32 percent express confidence in Biden.
This is a change from 2020, when 45 percent were confident in Trump’s stamina, and 52 percent were confident in Biden’s stamina, the Monmouth survey noted.
Currently, Trump is facing 91 felony charges spread across four indictments related to his purported attempts to overturn the 2020 election, mishandling classified documents, and falsifying business records. Additionally, he is dealing with civil lawsuits.
