Alabama's Morning News with JT
Jon Decker talks potential Trump running mate
as we get ready for the big debate coming up on Thursday, Donald Trump keeps hinting about his VP candidate. And they he says rather in his team has said that the VP candidate will be at the debate. Hmm. It's like he's dropping a little nuggets of hints towards us, but hasn't actually come out with it yet. Nope. Oh, nobody knows but me. John Decker, our great media correspondent on this whole thing. Welcome in. John, thanks for being here. Oh, thanks a lot. Good to be with you today. Look, if anybody's got the inside scoop, it's John Decker. So what do you hear? And I know you're close to this. Come on. What you got any hits? Well, well, there's a report that Donald Trump has narrowed his list down to three people. Let me tell you what that report indicates. It's the junior Senator from Ohio, the freshman Senator from Ohio, JD Vance, Doug Bergham, who ran for the Republican nomination. He's Republican governor from North Dakota and the senior Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio. I don't think it's going to be any of those individuals, JT. The number one, the number one criteria that Donald Trump is looking for this, this time around is loyalty. And each of the people that I've mentioned have at some point in their political career said some very negative things about Donald Trump. That's going to be a nonstarter for him. And plus that report did not indicate any women, prominent women on that short list. I think that gender balance is so important, this election cycle. And to me, the number one person who ticks off so many boxes for Donald Trump is Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She demonstrated her loyalty to Donald Trump during her time in the White House serving as the White House press secretary. She demonstrated that every day, not just showing up, you know, a few days in a courtroom in Manhattan. And she's the Republican governor from the state of Arkansas. So to me, if you're looking for gender balance, to me, she's at the top of the list. Yeah, I would think that that's a good pick too. She was awesome as the press secretary. You're right, absolutely completely on track with being loyal. That's, I mean, she was all about him every step in her career so far and hasn't wavered from that. But there have been cases, you know, in the past with candidates like this, that during debates and things like this, I mean, look at Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, where, you know, okay, the scenarios and the, you know, the landscape has changed now where we're off the debate stage. I get it. You were playing politics up against me. But, you know, now when they come back around, Doug Bergham, JD Vance and Marco Rubio, you're right. They've all had some negative things to say about him. But time and place is, does that come into play it all in like, let bygones be bygones and you're on my team now because, you know, Marco Rubio brings a Hispanic vote. Doug Bergham is kind of like Donald Trump and aligns himself in that kind of same fashion. JD Vance, I've heard his name quite a lot for the last, I guess, three or four weeks or so. But, you know, do you think sometimes I can set those past things aside? Oh, absolutely. It's all about comfort level. It's about getting elected before you can govern. You have to think about getting elected and, you know, you can go through a list of individuals who've chosen running mates that maybe they weren't the most, you know, palatable to them, but they help them get elected. And so, you know, going all the way back to 1980, Ronald Reagan, George, H.W. Bush, they said some unkind things about each other during the process competing for the Republican nomination. As you put it, JT, they let bygones be bygones to win the election to govern. And it ultimately led to essentially a third term for Ronald Reagan when George H.W. Bush was elected president. That's another factor, JT, that Donald Trump has to think about whoever he chooses as his running bait has a running start for the Republican nomination in 2028. That's a huge gift. Yeah. And he has to think long and hard about who he's going to give this gift to in this election cycle. Absolutely. And Sarah Huckabee Sanders was not one of the ones that were mentioned a lot recently as far as being on the shortlist, but I think she makes great sense. Now, what about another left field curveball, maybe in a Rama Swami or somebody like that? Do you think it could be somebody that's not even being talked about? Well, let me throw you all mentioned a candidate out of left field. I don't think it's going to be Vivek Rama Swami, but I get here's one out of left field for you, JT. And let me let you mull on this for a bit. That's Donald Trump Jr. Donald Trump Jr. What better way to extend the legacy of Donald Trump by putting Donald Trump Jr. as you're running bait? It's not just four years of Donald Trump. It's potentially 12 years of Donald Trump. That would certainly appeal to MAGA country. And to me, there's no one who's more loyal than your son. So that he picks off that box for sure. So keep your eye on that is a pick out of left field for Donald Trump right now. He feels that it really doesn't matter who his running mate is. He feels he can win regardless of who he chooses as his VP. And he's going to pick the person that he's most comfortable with. And that's the reason why I mentioned Donald Trump Jr. as a possibility. Yeah, that would certainly avoid getting back into another Mike Pence situation, you know, where you get a Bergham, for instance, it could be just like, yeah, okay, thanks for bringing me on all of a sudden. We're not seeing eye to eye on a lot of things. I think, you know, you go back to the word loyalty that you mentioned, and that's going to be a big factor in Donald Trump Jr. And also Sarah, how can we sanders? Well, looking forward to it. John, thanks for being with me. I appreciate you.