Advertisement

Trump Really Wanted Ivanka As His 2016 Running Mate, According To Rick Gates

It seems that Vice President Mike Pence was not President Donald Trump’s No. 1 pick for his No. 2.

According to a new book from Trump’s former deputy campaign manager Rick Gates, the president initially suggested that Ivanka Trump, Trump’s eldest daughter and senior adviser, should be his running mate in June 2016 when his campaign aides began discussing the matter, Bloomberg News reports.

“I think it should be Ivanka. What about Ivanka as my VP?” Trump reportedly asked an assembled group that included Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, who is also a Trump senior adviser.

“All heads turned toward her, and she just looked surprised. We all knew Trump well enough to keep our mouths shut and not laugh,” Gates wrote, according to Bloomberg’s account of the book. “He went on: ‘She’s bright, she’s smart, she’s beautiful, and the people would love her!’”

Ivanka Trump introduced her father at the Republican National Convention, where he delivered his acceptance speech as the Republican presidential nominee in August. (Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images)
Ivanka Trump introduced her father at the Republican National Convention, where he delivered his acceptance speech as the Republican presidential nominee in August. (Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images)

Gates said that Trump’s team nixed the idea of Vice President Ivanka Trump — who at the time was a 34-year-old fashion and real estate executive with no political experience.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee were then considered for the ticket, but they took their names out of the running. According to Gate’s account, Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman and Gate’s former business partner, Paul Manafort, suggested someone like then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence “who could bring balance to the ticket.”

“But Trump said, ‘Look, I don’t like any of these people,’” Gates wrote. “Once again, he said, ‘I think it should be Ivanka.’”

According to Gates, Trump was so convinced that the Republican Party would embrace his daughter that his team even polled the idea twice.

She didn’t poll “tremendously high, but higher than we expected,” he wrote. “And that only added to the seriousness of her consideration.”

Then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visited his Scottish golf course with his daughter Ivanka Trump in 2015. (Jeff J Mitchell via Getty Images)
Then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visited his Scottish golf course with his daughter Ivanka Trump in 2015. (Jeff J Mitchell via Getty Images)

It was apparently Ivanka Trump herself who eventually put a stop to the blatantly nepotistic concept,...

Continue reading on HuffPost