Gaetz says Trump should pick a female running mate

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Rep. Matt Gaetz said former President Donald Trump should pick a woman as his 2024 running mate.
• Gaetz said Trump should pick between Sarah Huckabee Sanders or Kristi Noem to get votes from women who don’t like him.
• The Florida congressman believed Trump won in 2016 because women who didn’t like him still voted for him.

Rep. Matt Gaetz said former President Donald Trump should pick a woman as his 2024 running mate if he wants to win in the next election.

“What I’ve said to President Trump is like, you have to create a permission structure where women who do not like you vote for you again,” Gaetz said on the conservative “Timcast IRL” podcast on Friday.

The Florida congressman also said that he thought the “reason Trump won in 2016” is because “a whole lot of women who didn’t like him voted for him” instead of his rival, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Gaetz’ pick as Trump’s 2024 running mate is Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. He praised the former White House press secretary’s “directness” and her plan to ban TikTok on state government devices.

“She’s the kind of person I look at,” Gaetz said.

Appearing for an interview on Fox News on January 15, Sanders avoided endorsing Trump directly for 2024.

“I love the President, have a great relationship with him. I know our country would be infinitely better off if he was in office right now instead of Joe Biden but right now my focus isn’t 2024,” Sanders said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Another Trump potential running mate is South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. Gaetz named her a “pretty stellar” alternative to Sanders.

Gaetz did not say if the former president had responded positively to his suggestions.

Trump announced in November, right after the midterm elections, that he is running for president again in 2024 — his third.

In October, The New York Times Magazine journalist Robert Draper told the Daily Beast that Trump had been discussing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as his running mate. Draper said Greene has been “unflaggingly loyal” to Trump amid a litany of scandals and lawsuits.

The Daily Beast reported last week, citing two sources who have spoken to Trump and an unnamed GOP strategist, that the former president has been considering female running mates for his 2024 campaign. GOP Reps. Elise Stefanik and Greene, as well as former Democratic congresswoman and presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard, have been floated as candidates, according to the outlet.

Source: Newsweek