Donald Trump Jr.'s Preference For Father's Running Mate Revealed

Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of former President Donald Trump, said he's lobbying for his father to select a "fighter" as his running mate in the 2024 presidential election.

“What I want in that role is I want a fighter,” Trump Jr. said via the New York Post. “I understand what they are going to throw at us. “In 2016 you needed someone to balance out [the ticket] — that’s where Mike Pence made sense, sort of the yin and yang, but [given] the vicious nature of the swamp and the insanity we see on a daily basis, you need someone who can take those hits."

Trump Jr. said he has pushed for the likes of Sen. J.D. Vance, biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and conservative news pundit Tucker Carlson. Last week, Ramaswamy, who dropped out of the Republican presidential race and immediately endorsed Trump on January 15, was reported to have been ruled out as a potential running mate, but would still be considered for a potential cabinet post.

In December, Axios reported that former First Lady Melania Trump is reportedly pushing for her husband to choose Carlson as his running mate. Melania reportedly believes Carlson would be a "powerful onstage extension" of her husband, Axios' Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei reported at the time.

The report claimed that some Trump staffers, however, fear that Carlson would potentially "outshine" the former president as a running mate and "can't be controlled."