Influential Republicans running to replace Donald J. Trump’s vice presidential nomination appeared at a conservative conference near Washington, bidding with fire and cajoling for a place alongside Mr. Trump in the campaign.
Four people considered candidates for the “Apprentice” spectacle appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC, on Friday. They included Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota and Kari Lake, a Senate candidate in Arizona who rose to conservative notoriety by full-throatedly embracing Mr. Trump’s stolen election lies . Conservative and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was scheduled to speak later in the evening.
The candidates seemed to understand that they had a single audience in Mr. Trump. Their approaches varied, but their speeches were similar in tone and content: They underscored their loyalty to the base with effusive praise and sharp rhetoric and cast the former president, who faces 91 felony counts in four separate criminal cases, as a martyr for Republicans represents.
Ms. Stefanik, a once-moderate Republican whose reinvention as a close Trump ally helped her gain a position in House leadership, made a point of aggressively defending Mr. Trump over his legal troubles. She played up the Republican-led congressional investigations into President Biden and his son Hunter by repeatedly referring to them as the “Biden crime family,” even as many statements in the Biden cases have been questioned.
“The closer President Trump gets to victory, the dirtier the Democrats, their media stenographers and corrupt prosecutors get. They will stop at nothing, and I mean nothing, in trying to steal this next election,” Ms. Stefanik said.
She also tried to portray herself as an early supporter of Mr. Trump, even though she had previously privately criticized him as a disaster for the Republican Party. Mr. Trump and his campaign have signaled that loyalty and respect for the former president are key qualities.
On the eve of the South Carolina primary and in the run-up to other key presidential elections on March 5, Super Tuesday, Mr. Trump and his campaign team have encouraged speculation about his potential running mate in an attempt to portray his candidacy as inevitable and to divert attention from Nikki Haley , his insurgent rival in the presidential campaign.
In interviews, CPAC attendees expressed varying opinions about who Mr. Trump should vote for, with some highlighting hard-line Trump supporters like Mr. Ramaswamy and Ms. Stefanik. But many also qualified their choice by saying that they would be satisfied with the candidate chosen by Mr. Trump.
“I don’t have much of an opinion,” said Mitch Boggs, a state representative from Missouri, adding that Ms. Stefanik would be his personal choice. But he said, “I want Trump to pick who he wants to pick.”
Mr. Vance, sitting on the main stage of the convention for an interview with a host from the conservative news channel Newsmax, said: “Donald Trump may be the first politician in my lifetime who will be much poorer for having served his country.” That “The best evidence we should re-elect him in 2024 is that he has sacrificed for his country.” (Prior to the huge penalties from the civil cases against him, Mr. Trump profited from his private businesses both during his presidency and after he left office .)
The Ohio senator also focused during the interview on his opposition to U.S. military aid to Ukraine, an isolationist political view he shares with Mr. Trump. He had harsh words for Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate minority leader, accusing him of placing more importance on the war in Ukraine than on domestic problems in his own state.
“You have to look in the mirror and accept that your job has failed,” Mr. Vance said. “You failed at your job.”
Ms. Noem emphasized her early support of Mr. Trump in the 2024 campaign and said she declined to run for president because she knew no one could beat Mr. Trump in a primary, drawing applause when she said: ” He’s the only human being.” Who has the support to be the Republican nominee? She also delivered a dark message that mimicked Mr. Trump’s divisive rhetoric.
“There are two types of people in this country right now. There are people who love America and there are people who hate America,” she said.
Ms. Lake did not appear on the main stage, but instead took part in a panel discussion on the convention floor moderated by the far-right television network Real America’s Voice. She also echoed Trump’s isolationist views on aid to Ukraine and said the United States must stop sending money abroad.
Berney Flowers, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who is running for Congress in Maryland, listed Mr. Ramaswamy, Ms. Lake, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Tulsi Gabbard, a former congressman from Hawaii who left the Democratic Party to become a politician become independent, as possible candidates he would support.
“We need the fire,” he said, but added: “Any of these people I would like to stand behind.”
The conference ends on Saturday with the group’s traditional straw poll. For the first time in at least a decade, the poll will include a question about vice presidential preferences and ask participants to pick the best vice president to replace Mr. Trump.
It’s a very different selection process than in 2016, when Mr. Trump chose Mike Pence as his running mate just days before the Republican National Convention. Back then, Mr. Trump was still an outsider in the Republican Party and had to work hard to fend off attempts to derail his nomination and set up a contentious convention. Contrary to his instincts, which would have favored a respectful vice president who would aggressively defend him against his many critics, Mr. Trump chose Mr. Pence to unite the party.
Now, Mr. Trump might as well be the Republican Party, and he is likely to favor the candidates who are most respectful of him, even as he weighs factors such as whether a woman or a person of color could help turn out voters in the general election to win .
Michael C. Bender contributed reporting.
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2024-02-24 01:18:39
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