It might be months before we learn who former President Donald Trump – the GOP 2024 presidential candidate frontrunner – will choose as his running mate. However, his wife has apparently already made her choice clear.
“Melania Trump is an advocate for picking Tucker Carlson, the booted Fox News star,” Axios reported Thursday. “She thinks Carlson would make a powerful onstage extension of her husband, a source close to Trump told us. The former first lady has made few campaign appearances this time around – but a Trump-Carlson ticket might encourage her to hit the trail.”
While Melania was by her husband’s side when he announced his candidacy last November, she hasn’t been seen much on the campaign trail. Her absence led to concerned social media posts earlier this year. By this spring, Audacy reported that Melania was staying at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and trying to lay low as he faced mounting legal troubles and this fall there were reports that she renegotiated her prenuptial agreement.
As for her VP pick, Trump has said that he would consider running with the pundit, who had top ratings for Fox before his departure and now hosts a show on the social media platform X. Instead of going to the first GOP debate, Trump joined Carlson’s show for an interview that garnered more than 150 million impressions on X within days, according to Forbes.
“I like Tucker a lot; I guess I would,” Trump said of running with Carlson as his vice president. “I think I’d say I would, because he’s got great common sense.”
Trump said that even after messages from Carlson were revealed as part of the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit. Carlson wrote “I hate him passionately,” of Trump in one message, according to The Hill. He also slammed unfounded voter fraud claims that Trump has continued to make since losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
However, Trump has also entertained other options for his running mate after deciding not to choose his former vice president, Mike Pence. Just last week, Audacy reported on rumors that Dr. Ben Carson was the former president’s top choice. In the past, Trump has also said that fellow GOP primary contender Vivek Ramaswamy would be a good pick for vice president.
It has also been rumored that Trump would choose a woman or a person of color as his running mate. Some names floated for the position include South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Sen. Tim Scott, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, and one of his Republican primary opponents, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
However, clues that Carlson’s name is making its way to the top of the list are adding up. Last month, he was spotted alongside Carlson and Kid Rock at a UFC event. Now, the Melania news might bode well for Carlson, too.
“He reserves – he listens to many of us, but he reserves fear for one person, Melania Trump,” Kellyanne Conway – who served as Senior Counselor to the President – said of her former boss in a deposition last year.
Presidential candidates are expected to choose their running mates by the time their party’s conventions are held. The Republican National Convention is scheduled to be held in Milwaukee, Wisc., in July.