Talk Elections

 Knowing DT's massive issues with females, I was convinced back in 2016 he would at least consider at female VP, to boost his credibility with women. Jan Brewer and Mary Fallin were openly discussed as potentials but both I feel brought little to Trump aside from being female, on most issues they agreed with Trump. How would reaching towards moderate Republicans by appointing Shelley moore capito to the no.2 slot have worked? Kelly Ayotte was in a tough re-election that year but could she also have been his no.2? Thoughts?

Kristi Noem

Nikki Haley would be the best box checker.

- Reasonably conservative

- Daughter of immigrants and took down the Confederate flag, which deflects a lot

- Still articulate enough to gaslight Tim Kaine

Kristi Noem would be an outside the box pick imo, she has the potential to be sarah palin 2.0, nikki haley would be the best but she would never run with trump, be a cold a day in hell if that'd ever happen!

Being 100% serious here: the only woman Donald Trump would've remotely considered to be worth working with as a running mate was Ivanka Trump. There's not another woman on Earth he regards highly enough to make Vice President and his potential successor.

Ernst was also on Trump's list for a while.

Haley and Martinez both made clear early on that they wouldn't do it.

Nikki Haley

Haley would probably have been the best pick, although going with Pence fit Trump's brand. Part of his argument was Democrats went with unqualified tokens, and that he doesn't care about that PC stuff.

Why are we all forgetting about Joni Ernst?

Suzana Martinez would've been a perfect pick for him.

He may have won the popular vote if he had picked her.

Insert name of blonde fox news presenter

I think Mia Love would have been the best choice. She serves the same role as Pence, which is to tie him to the traditional Republican base; in addition, she as a former critic of his, particularly his comments on race, if she were to join the ticket it would tremendously shore up his defenses in that area. As an African-American, she appeals to the most influential voting-minority in the country. Alas, it is only a dream...

You could argue that she’s African-American lite in the same way Barack is (both are the children of immigrants, both of their “blackness” has been questioned on idpol/cultural grounds), but that wouldn’t have mattered to Trump’s primary base.

And now I feel like a dummy.

This. 

There would have been an outside shot of NM and flipping NV.

Moore Capito is pro-choice, which automatically rules her out from being on the GOP national ticket.

Carly Fiorina would have been interesting.

Susana Martinez would have helped calm a lot of accusations of racism and bigotry against Trump.

In terms of overall skill, Nikki Haley was probably his best pick, though.

If Kelly Ayotte wasn't irrelevant now, I'd say her, but we know what happened with that GOP "rising star".

Again, Haley and Martinez said they wouldn't do it.  For that matter, Martinez said she was offended by Trump's language about immigrants just a couple of weeks before Trump de facto clinched the nomination:

http://nmpoliticalreport.com/2016/04/19/susana-martinez-slams-trump-at-koch-hosted-event/

The idea that Trump would offer her the VP spot or that she would accept is pure fantasy.

Kelly Ayotte would have been an excellent running mate. Let Hassan take the Senate seat; Ayotte would have added some gravitas to the ticket.

Unless he appoints him Secretary of State, Mike Pence is the best choice for Trump's VP.  Pence was the best choice for Trump in that he did more than anyone else to ensure that Trump's Hostile Takeover of the GOP would take and not be rejected.

Fallin was the only female running mate that would have worked with Trump; she needed the job to continue her career.  Ernst and Haley were too independent.  Fallin, however, could not have added the gravitas to the ticket that Pence did.

In regards to Ernst, nah. I have a feeling that, if it came down to it, she'd be a Trump loyalist who'd give full-throated damnations of his opposition until the end.

Shelley Moore Capito

I would have endorsed a Trump/Haley or Trump/Martinez ticket in a heartbeat, but we ended up with Mike Pence, and that is still fantastic.

to be fair she could still run for the other new hampshire senate seat and could very well win it be a rising star once more.

My guess is he actually would have gone with Michele Bachman but I think Nikki Haley would have been a decent VP for Trump. Problem is Nikki haley did not endorse him in the primaries. Neither did Mike Pence though.