Donald Trump Monday floated Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as
potential choices to be his running mate should he win the GOP presidential nomination this summer, but both governors laughed off the possibility.
"I literally just heard it in the car, and I laughed, it's kind of interesting to hear that after the things that were said about me a couple weeks ago," Walker told reporters in Madison, reports
Politico.
"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."
Kasich, meanwhile, completely ruled out becoming Trump's running mate, telling
"CBS This Morning" on Tuesday program that there is "zero chance" that would happen, even if it meant helping the party win the 2016 race.
"Look, I am running for president of the U.S. and that's it," Kasich said. "If I'm not president — which I think I have an excellent shot to be — I will finish my term as governor and maybe I will be a co-host on your show. You never know."
Rubio, meanwhile, does not yet appear to have commented on Trump's statements.
It was just a few weeks ago, before the Wisconsin primary, that Trump was ridiculing Walker, after the Wisconsin governor decided to endorse Ted Cruz, hitting him for his service as the Midwestern state's leader and making fun of him for his love of motorcycles.
But on Monday, Trump told
USA Today op-ed writer Kirsten Powers, when she asked if he could see any of his former rivals for the GOP presidential nomination as becoming potential running mates, that he does like Walker, as well as Kasich and Rubio.
"I like Walker actually in a lot of ways," Trump told her. "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."
"There are people I have in mind in terms of vice president," he also told Powers. "I just haven't told anybody names . . . I do like Marco. I do like (John) Kasich."
But even though Walker supports Cruz, he calls the possibility of being the Texas senator's running mate "so far off."
"I think if you've got a contested convention, I don't know that anyone's going to get the pick," said Walker. "The delegates may pick the vice presidential running mate."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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