Posted on 06/30/2016 5:49:53 PM PDT by monkapotamus
Donald Trump’s campaign has begun formally vetting possible running mates, with former House speaker Newt Gingrich emerging as the leading candidate, followed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. But there are more than a half-dozen others being discussed as possibilities, according to several people with knowledge of the process.
Given Trump’s unpredictability, campaign associates caution that the presumptive Republican nominee could still shake up his shortlist. But with little more than two weeks before the start of the Republican National Convention, Gingrich and Christie have been asked to submit documents and are being cast as favorites for the post inside the campaign. Gingrich in particular is the beneficiary of a drumbeat of support from Trump confidants such as Ben Carson...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I’m not for regional picks but is there any Republican in Michigan that the home folks like? Former Senator or anything? Just curious since I don’t know that region well.
Trump will likely get many states on his own. Including Michigan. Union workers are not happy with the state of our union and even though their unions might funnel money to clinton, they will still vote for Trump. And the Dems know this. Ha
I think NJ would go out of play if Trump picked Christie. Not that Christie isn't about a bazillion times better than any Democrat NJ governor could be but he still hasn't come close to living up to expectations. He's done less than nothing for the Republican party in the state. And the state's finances are still in a death spiral.
I can see him with a cabinet post in a Trump administration but as a VP he would be a waste.
Sorry about that. I didn’t see your post before I posted mine! All Fine.
My Post was pulled.
Never was great at posting threads anyways. ;)
I was kidding, just kidding, about Kasich. Maybe a year ago I would have been serious, but, OMG .. what a horrible candidate he was for POTUS, and a total jerk ever since. Let Ohio keep him!!!!
Similarly, a while ago I’d have thought Walker would be a fantastic choice. Uh, no. Isn’t he one who won’t endorse Trump or attend the convention?
I’ve always wanted to see Gingrich as WH Chief of Staff, maybe Christie as AG? Or maybe one of the SCOTUS seats, tho, if his weight is an indication of health, you don’t want him on SCOTUS. You want someone young and healthy who will be there for decades. Not that any of us know what can happen to anyone at any given time.
I have complete trust that Trump will make a great choice, whomever it may be. He has a remarkable gift for putting the right people in the right spot. He’s told us he wants someone who knows the ropes in DC (a plus for Newt) and someone who can step into office on an instant’s notice should anything happen to him, God forbid.
Gingrich is a globalist. NO WAY.
Yeah, but the bridge Christie’s got to sell them has one lane closed. :=)
Christy is NOT popular any more in NJ, he would NOT win today if running!!!
I think Rand Paul would be an OK choice far better than Christie!!! Christie as AG, NO WAY VP!!!!
YUCK to both of them!
No to Christie. He had muslims in his administration. I forgot who, but no to Christie.
He is hated by the police because he wrote the unions a letter promising their pensions would not be touched, in fact he said pensions were sacrosanct. He gained union support prior to election and then he went back on his word.
I know public union pensions are not popular on main street, I know public employees receive benefits unheard of in the private sector, but the fact remains politicians made and agreed to these promises to gain union support for elections.
Many public employees plan their retirements based on certain promises made and implicit when they take the job, it is unfair to change the rules half way through the game.
As a police officer I agree with changing benefits for new hires as fair game, new hires can not miss what they never had or were never promised, but cops with 15 to 20 years on should not have their retirements changed especially when police pensions are healthily funded due to low life expectancy after retirement because of the stressful nature of the job.
The issue in new jersey is Christie lumps the fire, police and teachers pensions together when teachers pensions are the issue. Police and fire pensions are fine and well funded due to several factors such as the fact police and fire unions contribute more into their pensions per check than teachers, and also do not live as long after retirement . Teachers for years contributed a tiny percentage of pay per check into their pensions. Plus there are about 40 thousand cops in the state as opposed to over 100 thousand teachers.
I am a rational person and understand state budgetary shortfalls, however what Christie did was scapegoat police and fire as the main cause of money woes in the state when in fact it has been liberal government out of control spending and policies.
I know I may be flamed for sticking up for public union benefits that many in the private sector abhor, but the whole story needs to be told, police pensions are almost 80% funded, and this is in spite of the fact that Christie has instructed towns and cities and municipalities that it is OK not to make obligatory pension payments to fulfill their pension obligations. A conversation on public union benefits can and should be had and changes can be made but it is not right to make changes half way or more through the game for current workers.
Do you guys realize Christie gave the state police union a sweeter deal when he passed all his reforms than he gave local police? The reason? The state police handles his personal security and he didn’t want to upset the guys protecting him.
Someone I thought of the other day is Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). He was on the Benghazi committee and iirc is head of another committee. He’s fairly young, nice looking and articulate. May help with Ohio??
Karen Tumulty walked into a bar and the bartender asked “why the kerry face?”
Can you name a place in the US where a cop can get 100K a year in Retirement?
You can’t, unless you count the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey where they have guys retiring with 150K a year pensions for life
The pension is technically illegal in New Jersey since it is debt that has not been approved by the tax payers, this has been ruled by the state supreme court.
Politicians in the state have been doing nothing but making promises, the liberals made these same promises as well, but the liberal police unions don’t dare go after their own guys. Just Christie, because he had the cojones to tell them the real situation once his team was able to look at the real numbers after election. Remember Jon Corzine published “cooked” numbers prior the election, once Christie got in the state was in serious financial trouble. So yes, promises made on rosy numbers published by the Corzine administration were invalid and all promises should be called off. You want to be mad at someone, be mad at the democrats from promising you lofty pensions with no realistic ways to pay for them. Remember, your union supported these RATS
The Port Authority Police is semi private. They have their own pension system and they have a non contributory pension meaning they don’t pay into it. When they retire it’s a complete gift, they are not the same as local municipal police. Local police pay for medical and pension every check. Also they pay for medical after retirement as well. Cost of living increases have been removed for pensions as well. Again I am not saying a conversation regarding benefits should not be had I think I have made that clear. If left alone the police pension system would be completely solvent but issues arose only after Governor Whitman decided the state could borrow money from the pension system that was never repaid. So basically they raided the retirement funds and Why? Because politicians cannot stand to see a pool of money with out getting their hands on it. Same thing happened with social security at the federal level.
And as far as a place where police get fat pensions look at California where every year worked gets you 3% of your salary for retirement, so 30 years in and you retire with 90% pension. That’s extreme and new jersey is nowhere near that.
Well Florio was the first one to truly mess with the pension system. By stating it was overfunded and stopped contributing. But here is the problem, the NJ pension system can never be fully funded, the benefits are defined, which makes it a Ponzi scam in some sense. So as long as more people contribute, IE larger government, the ability for it to pay out is there. As long as new “suckers” are added to the system, it can pay out. Kinda like a Ponzi scam. Once government downsizes it can never pay out these pensions. They are all going to get cut down to reasonable levels, eventually. Your union trusted the democrats to deliver nice lofty pensions in exchange for votes, but those democrats pumped that same money they promises you guys into the rat hole cities so they can get kick backs on projects that they don’t need. The money is gone, they spent it, they stole your pensions and they come back and blame the fat man for it. Stop falling for their scheme.
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