Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley may be running for president against former President Donald Trump, but that hasn’t stopped rampant speculation that she could be his vice presidential pick.
In a recent interview with the New York Post, Trump campaign surrogate Jason Miller refused to rule out the idea that Trump would pick Haley as his vice president, even as he said that there was no way that former candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would get the nod.
The outlet quoted Miller as saying he would “let Trump speak about his decision.”
This is not the reassurance that the Trump base needs from the former president’s campaign. Republican voters have placed Trump on a glidepath to the GOP presidential nomination, and they deserve to know that he won’t select an establishment chameleon to join him on the presidential ticket.
Selecting a vice presidential nominee cannot be simply a cold calculation about who broadens the electoral coalition. Such a choice must account for the policy agreements between the president and his chosen vice president, and there must be broad agreement between the two.
Haley and Trump could not be more far apart on policy and personality. While Trump speaks of the need to control the federal bureaucracy, Haley espouses the same bureaucracy’s talking points on foreign policy and embraces widespread U.S. involvement in conflicts abroad.
While Trump speaks of the need to end diversity, equity, and inclusion and other forms of identity politics that have percolated within the Washington, D.C., establishment, Haley seems to suggest that the fact she is a woman automatically qualifies her for the presidency.
These are not the marks of a politician who would be a teammate and partner for the would-be president of the United States. And Trump’s closest allies have made it clear that they would be quite put out if Haley was selected to join the GOP ticket.
“Nikki Haley wants never-ending wars,” Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s son, told Newsmax last month. “She’s a puppet of the establishment in Washington, D.C. She’s the new favorite candidate of the billionaire class because they want control.”
“MAGA would revolt if Nikki Haley were to even be given an internship in Trump’s next administration,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X. “She represents the neocon establishment America last wing of the Republican Party that we are absolutely done with.”
MAGA would revolt if Nikki Haley were to even be given an internship in Trump’s next administration.
She represents the neocon establishment America last wing of the Republican Party that we are absolutely done with.
Also, she lied and said she would not run against Trump.
— Marjorie Taylor Greene
(@mtgreenee) December 12, 2023
There are a host of other VP candidates that Trump could pick from that would provide him with an electoral benefit but would not actively subvert his policy goals. If he wants a woman on the ticket, Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) would all be more advisable options. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), or former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson would also make for more aligned choices.
Trump should listen to his son and his other advisers who have expressed similar concerns and put the rumors that Haley could be his vice president to rest.