McCarthy says Trump Should Pick Nikki Haley as Running Mate

Ward Clark reporting for RedState 

On Wednesday, former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, who has been a Trump supporter, had an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin. In that interview, McCarthy suggested a VP pick for the once and (possibly) future President: Nikki Haley.

During the New York Times’s DealBook Summit, Andrew Ross Sorkin asked McCarthy who the “right person” would be for Trump to pick as his vice president among Haley, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), and 2024 GOP presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.).

“If I was a political person, and I was going to advise somebody, you’re going to pick the vice president that’s about addition, not subtraction. So you’re not going to pick somebody that already equates to you,” McCarthy responded.

“Now if I was picking for purely political decisions, what it looks like today is the anti-Trump vote is going to Nikki Haley,” he added.

Setting aside the likelihood of Trump's inviting Haley to take a place on his ticket (and it's just as doubtful that Trump would offer as it is that Haley would accept), let's just look at the pros and cons of this possible pick.

Pros:

• Nikki Haley can claim some foreign policy strength, having been Ambassador to the UN, and having already dealt with unpleasant foreign potentates.
• She checks one "minority" box, being of Indian descent, although it's unclear how much that would help with other minority groups, and in any case Trump seems to be picking up some steam in that quarter.
• Assuming the Democrat ticket stays as is - which is doubtful - she would be set against Kamala Harris, and whatever Republicans think of Nikki Haley, one has to admit the difference there is stark.
• Her presence on the ticket may well influence some voters who are sitting on the fence vis-a-vis Trump.
• She's young - 51 - which could be comforting to those worried about voting for a Presidential candidate in his late '70s.

Cons:

• Nikki Haley is viewed by some on the political right as something of a throwback, a Bush-style neocon instead of a Trump-style populist.

• VP picks are often chosen because they can bring with them a state that's important in the Electoral College; Haley is from South Carolina, a state Trump won handily in 2020 and should do so again.
• President Trump has placed Nikki Haley in his crosshairs of late, which is not likely to make her inclined to take a place on the team, nor for Trump to invite her:

Haley has largely avoided any severe attacks on the former president, focusing on his policy positions. Trump, however, has recently taken notice of Haley’s success, nicknaming her “birdbrain.”

• Kevin McCarthy's recommendation may not carry all that much weight with the former President.

It's not at all clear that McCarthy's recommendation is very helpful.

Who, then? There are several possibilities for Trump to choose from, although his former choice is almost certainly not on the list. There have been some unconventional suggestions, to say the least, and there are any number of younger Republicans who would jump at the opportunity of the role famously described as a "bucket of warm piss," considering the guy who would be heading the ticket cannot be re-elected; the 2024 VP winner will be rather well-placed to run for the top spot himself.

An obvious name, of course, comes from Florida; Ron DeSantis. Again, it's doubtful DeSantis would be interested. Were a second Trump term to implode, that would be the end of the Florida governor's career on the national stage, and that's not an impossible prospect.

Indeed, that may be the one consideration that complicates Trump's VP pick more than anything else.

Assuming Trump is the nominee, he goes into the general election with some advantages, not least of which is his opponent. His VP pick will likely be on the unconventional side; someone young, someone foursquare behind the MAGA movement, someone that will appeal to the base. That seems to be how Donald Trump is swinging at the moment.

Disclaimer, as always: It's still very early in the cycle. Not one primary vote has yet been cast, and it is almost a year until the general election. It's a long way to Tipperary, folks, and a year is a lifetime in politics.