Scott Walker doesn’t get it. Donald Trump just named him as a potential running mate. If he were going to make the announcement, why didn’t Trump do it ahead of the Wisconsin primary—when it might have done him some good? Walker doesn’t get it, and neither do a lot of other people.
In the interview, Trump offered several names he could pick for VP.
“Yes. I like Marco Rubio. Yeah. I could,” he answered. As for a potential Rubio vice president: “There are people I have in mind in terms of vice president. I just haven’t told anybody names. … I do like Marco. I do like (John) Kasich. … I like (Scott) Walker actually in a lot of ways. 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.”
Walker’s response?
“I literally just heard it in the car, and I laughed,” he told Politico. “It’s interesting to hear that after the things that were said about me a couple weeks ago. . .
[I] can’t even fathom” being on a ticket with Trump and [he] called the mere possibility “breathtaking.”
Likewise, despite rumors, Derek Jeter says he’s not interested in the job, either, according to CBS Sports.
Asked in Cuba about talk he could be Trump's running mate, Jeter
smiled and said, "That sounds like too much work." pic.twitter.com/dvBzOLlzLC— Maureen Dowd (@NYTimesDowd) March 27, 2016
As noted above, Walker doesn’t “get it,” and maybe that’s why Walker is on the bench, while Trump is still up at bat. . .
What Walker doesn’t “get” is that Trump is the ultimate negotiator. He is all about results, not personalities. While smaller minds hold grudges, Trump will mend fences, when necessary. That may be difficult to live with. A former housekeeper said that Trump would complain furiously, and a minute later, be warm and friendly.
Another thing people don’t get about Trump is that he is all about questioning the status quo. While Ted Cruz is running around, trying to figure out how to manipulate and take advantage of rules to get delegates, Trump questions the whole system.
It really started with Colorado — and the people out there are going crazy. In the Denver area, Colorado itself. They’re going absolutely crazy because they weren’t given a vote, this was [chosen] by politicians. It is a crooked deal. And I see it with Bernie too. . .
That’s not the way democracy is supposed to work. They offer them trips, they offer them all kinds of things, and you’re allowed to do that. You’re allowed to give trips, and buy all these votes? What kind of a system is this?. . .
The system is rigged. I see it now, 100%. And not just on our side, but I think it is worse on the Republican side. Look at Colorado — the people don’t get a chance to vote.
Trump questions everything—but that doesn’t mean he’d change everything. He sends up “trial balloons” to see if any issue hits a nerve.
Trump said he could live with a nuclear-armed Japan and South Korea if it meant they could defend themselves. . . declared himself in favor of torture if it would extract information from terrorists. . . suggested that women who have illegal abortions should face “some form of punishment”. . . he would pull out of NATO if European members did not pay a greater share. . .
Because of some of the outrageous things Trump has said, many people see him as an extremist, but he seldom says things dogmatically. Even in the above examples, the operative word attached to each statement is, “if.” If Japan needs to defend itself, if torture is the only way to get information, if NATO members continue to take advantage of us.
In case of abortion, it was “if” Roe V. Wade were overturned. And despite the public reaction, if abortion is classified as murder, the woman would have to be considered as “guilty” as the woman who pays a hitman to kill her husband, right? No, she didn’t handle the weapon, but she was the premeditator and instigator.
Wouldn’t such extreme comments eliminate moderate and independent voters? Not necessarily.
I told Trump about a Hillary Clinton-supporting family member who, after watching a Trump speech, noted to me that he’d be very hard to beat. Everything Trump says — opposition to the Iraq War, criticism of trade, and criticism of Washington — is right, she told me.
Trump questions everything, and that will appeal to Democrats, even confirmed liberals, even those he has offended.
So, why not just stick to substance and stop with the other stuff?
“Maybe the other stuff is part of it,” Trump said. “If I didn’t do it, then you might not be talking to me about a race where we are leading substantially.” Or as Trump told Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa on March 31: “Sometimes you have to break an egg. … I think I have two more left.”
Many people this year are for either Trump or Bernie, odd as that sounds. In fact, a third-party Trump-Sanders ticket would probably win the White House, handily.
This year, people want candidates to doubt and question and change the status quo.
Trump’s ability to question any issue, and grab the public’s attention, is what makes Trump such a strong candidate. That’s what establishment people like Scott Walker “don’t get.”
