Donald Trump, in an interview with USA TODAY, floated the names of current and former rivals as potential vice presidents in a Trump administration, but none so far seems to want to have anything to do with the New York real estate mogul.
“Zero chance,” Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Tuesday on CBSThis Morning. “Look, I am running for president of the United States, and that’s it.”
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who dropped out of the Republican presidential field in September citing hopes that others would do the same in order to stop Trump, seemed taken aback. Patrick Marley of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a member of the USA TODAY Network, was there Monday shortly after he learned about Trump’s comments.
" 'I literally just heard it in the car and I said — I laughed — it's kind of interesting to hear that after the things that were said about me a couple weeks ago,' Walker said. 'But I'm focused on being the governor of the state of Wisconsin. ... That's not even on my radar and it certainly wouldn't be with — I guess I was shocked more than anything to hear that.'"He added: 'I can't even fathom that. Like I said, it's almost breathtaking that I was listed in the first place.' "
Of course, Trump had predicted as much when he floated their names.
"There are people I have in mind in terms of vice president," he told USA TODAY. "I just haven't told anybody names. ... I do like Marco. I do like Kasich ... I like Walker actually in a lot of ways. I hit him very hard. ... But I've always liked him. There are people I like, but I don't think they like me because I have hit them hard."
Walker endorsed Trump’s second-place rival in the GOP field, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, before the Wisconsin primary last week, drawing withering attacks from Trump, who repeatedly assailed Walker’s record and even his riding a motorcycle. Cruz defeated Trump by a wide margin.
While Walker dismissed any role on a Trump ticket, he declined to say whether he would entertain such a role with Cruz.
"To me, I think that's so far off," he said. "I think if you've got a contested convention, I don't know that anyone's going to get the pick. The delegates may pick the vice presidential running mate."
