Former President Donald Trump just dropped another hint about what he is looking for, or more accurately what he is explicitly not looking for, in a prospective vice presidential candidate.
In a recent interview, Trump revealed that he had ruled out from consideration as his running mate a few prominent names that, in his view, haven't "behaved properly" toward him, according to The Washington Times.
That makes sense, as loyalty is widely believed to be the top attribute that he is looking for in whoever he ultimately chooses to be his VP.
During an interview this week with Newsmax host Greg Kelly, the topic of who former President Trump might pick as his vice presidential candidate came up for discussion, at which point he revealed that he'd already crossed a few names off of his list.
"I'd probably have a couple of people -- that you may know very well -- some people that I didn't think behaved properly," Trump said. "Yeah, I think I've ruled some people out, but I've ruled a lot of people in."
"And we have a lot of great people in the Republican Party. And they'll do a terrific job, I think," he added. "But certainly, I have people that I wouldn't want as a vice president."
Former President Trump also used that interview with Newsmax's Kelly to address some of the false narratives and reporting from the "fake news" media and even suggested the possibility that he might pick a liberal or Democrat to be his running mate, though he acknowledged the strong likelihood that his eventual choice would be "really conservative."
"I get a kick out of watching the fake news media say, 'Nobody wants to work with him; nobody wants to be vice president; nobody wants to be secretary of state,'" Trump said. "Everybody wants to be in these positions."
"There's is not a person in politics that doesn't want it, and that includes Democrats. If I wanted, I'd have a Democrat; I'd have a liberal; I'd have ... anybody I want," he continued. "But we're going to pick somebody that's really good, really conservative; loves law and order, low taxes, low interest rates, borders. We have to have the border. The border is killing our country."
As for the ongoing VP selection process, Trump said, "It's the formal processes in my brain," and added, "I look at the same people that everybody else is looking at. We've had some really great people."
The former president also addressed the constant media coverage about his eventual choice of a running mate, and said, "The press covers the people that are being thought about. It's unusual that you pick somebody totally out of that, and there are 15 people they talk about, and that list grows every day."
Emblematic of what former President Trump referenced was a recent Axios report that highlighted the top 12 potential candidates to be Trump's VP pick, with the top three most likely choices being Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH).
A second tier of possible but less likely picks included former HUD Sec. Ben Carson, Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake, business entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Rounding out the remainder of Axios' list were Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley -- though it is likely a safe bet that some of those names, especially Haley, are among those that Trump has already "ruled out" from his list.
