VEEP THOUGHTS
Sneed alert! OMG! It’s all things Trump again! Action. Reaction. Redaction. Abstraction. Release. Surcease.
Good grief! All this Trumpworld dictionary drama in tandem with rumors former President Donald Trump may be this/close to tossing his MAGA hat into the presidential pit.
Last week, Trump’s Theater of the Absurd went curtains up at Mar-a-Lago, a humdinger of unscripted reality TV in pursuit of alleged classified U.S. documents in his Florida compound.
(And goodness me, federal agents were rumored to have messed up former first lady Melania Trump’s wardrobe en route to the safe, which I can’t imagine being in her bedroom!)
Last week, Trump’s conservative Republican enemy No. 1, U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, declared her version of a national Trump “fatwa” to keep Trump from returning to the White House.
So here’s a question ahead of the game, but worth noodling.
Would Trump — who messily dispatched two ex-wives, Ivana and Marla; the recipient of 26 female sexual assault complaints; and is in Liz Cheney’s crosshairs — deign to choose a woman as a running mate?
Let’s back up.
Back in 2015, when Trump’s poll numbers were hot hot hot, Trump exclusively told Sneed he would be open to having a woman as his running mate.
Within minutes, it was on CNN. The next day, it was national news.
“Certainly, I would consider a woman as a running mate,” Trump said during one of our numerous phone interviews before running
afoul of his personal assistant, Hope Hicks, who was afraid she was going to get fired because of something I reported.
“I am all for the concept,” chirped Trump, delighting in his growing poll numbers. Concept? A woman is a concept? “It would have to be the right person and I’m not going to go into who that would be right now,” he said. “But I have great respect for women. I have great respect for women who are executives in my company. I have great respect for women’s judgment,” he said.
“Having a woman as a running mate is certainly a consideration. A very good consideration. It would be something I would strongly consider.”
Later, he hedged.
But my Dakota vibes bet Trump had been thinking about South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who is being advised once again by Trump
political operative Corey Lewandowski, as a veep possibility.
To wit: It was Noem who sanctioned the major Trump rally at Mount Rushmore amid the COVID epidemic to celebrate Independence Day in 2020, which included a mega fireworks display and held minus a social-distancing mandate.
Noem, who claims Trump told her it was his dream to have his face carved into the monument, wound up giving him a carved mini-monument replica instead.
Recently, Noem told the press no more space was available on Mt. Rushmore.
Finally … and stay tuned.
Crime line …
Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey called Chicago a “crime-ridden hellhole” at the Illinois State Fair last week.
Now there’s a description.
Sneed is told former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, who continues to recover from strokelike symptoms, refuses to respond to press inquiries on this topic, but has privately expressed it’s the one question he’d like the press to ask.
Gag me …
As a cable news junkie, does anyone else’s nausea button get triggered when paid political TV consultants proffer purred praise when TV commentators ask generally scripted questions? Example: “That’s a great/interesting/good/insightful question!” And of course, the gushing “Thanks for having me on.” Turn it off.
Sneedlings …
A special shout-out and congrats to retired Sun-Times/ Daily Southtown columnist Phil Kadner, a 1974 Northern Illinois University graduate, on the
creation of the Phil Kadner/Northern Star Endowment for Student Journalists. Kadner is an alum of the school’s Northern Star newspaper, which covers campus and local DeKalb news, and has been published continuously since 1899. An initiative of the university’s 1970’s reunion committee, the Kadner endowment will be announced at the university’s Northern Star Alumni Hall of Fame banquet Sept. 16-17. A shout out to Phil and his fellow alums, Northern Star Alumni Association President Mike Korcek and longtime SunTimes stellars Tom McNamee and Mark Brown. Bravo, Phil! Miss your down to earth columns . ... Saturday birthdays: singer Demi Lovato, 30; journalist Al Roker, 68, and singer Robert Plant, 74. Sunday birthdays: actress Hayden Panettiere, 33; Olympic track star Usain Bolt, 36, and actress Loretta Devine, 73.