It’s a scene worthy of an episode of Black Mirror. This May 4 and 5, four candidates for the position of Donald Trump’s running mate will face off in reality TV style, answering questions from the former American president and billionaire benefactors of his campaign, in a large hotel in Palm Beach, Florida. This operation is inspired by the show The Apprenticebroadcast on NBC from 2004 to 2017, in which the Republican candidate, then host, put participants from the business world through a series of tests to obtain a senior executive position within one of his companies.
In its early days, the show attracted up to 20 million viewers, but audiences gradually declined and Donald Trump was fired from the channel in 2015, after accusing Mexican immigrants of “rapists”.
This weekend, four participants will face each other for three days: Tim Scott, African-American senator from South Carolina; Doug Burgum, billionaire and governor of the small state of North Dakota; JD Vance, junior senator from Ohio; and Marco Rubio, senator from Florida. Other names would also appear on the list to obtain the post of vice-president, including that of Elise Stefanik, an ambitious Trumpist who recently stood out for her questions during a congressional hearing on anti-Semitism in the campus, which led to the dismissal of two university presidents.
A campaign weighed down by procedures
The issue is strategic: while Donald Trump is currently in trouble with the law – the former president is indicted in four cases, a trial is underway in New York for hidden payment to a former porn actress -, his future running mate could allow him to expand his electorate among independent voters, women and minorities, but also and above all to attract rich donors to finance his campaign, weighed down by procedures.
In February, Donald Trump was fined $454 million for financial fraud, a penalty he said he had difficulty paying – he has since posted a $175 million guarantee to avoid seizure of his assets. some of its real estate.
In 2016, Donald Trump relied on Mike Pence to win over the evangelical vote. But the former vice-president, whom Trump supporters had called to hang on January 6, 2021 during the invasion of the Capitol in Washington, has already announced that he would not support him for the next presidential election, in November 2024.
For his part, Donald Trump has stressed several times that he has not yet decided on his running mate and that he will announce it in the run-up to the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin, on July 15. “Anyone who claims to know who or when President Trump will choose his vice president is lying, unless that person is named Donald J. Trump,” said Brian Hughes, his senior advisor.