J.D. Vance Could ‘Outshine’ Trump as Vice President, Ex-Aide Warns

Former President Donald Trump might want to avoid picking Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio as a running mate due to the potential for Vance to “outshine” him as vice president, according to ex-Trump aide Alyssa Farah Griffin.

Vance, who wrote the memoir Hillbilly Elegy before entering politics, has repeatedly been floated as Trump’s potential VP pick, alongside names like North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. The former president told reporters on Saturday that he had already decided on his running mate but had not told anyone.

Trump also said that his choice would “most likely” be in attendance for his televised debate with President Joe Biden in Atlanta on Thursday, which will not have an audience. He previously hinted that he could announce his choice during next month’s Republican National Convention.

Griffin, who has been an outspoken critic of the ex-president since leaving the Trump administration in its final months, warned during a Monday night appearance on CNN’s The Source With Kaitlan Collins that choosing Vance could backfire on Trump.

“J.D. Vance—my fear there, or my analysis there—is that I think he could outshine Trump,” Griffin said. “I think he’s somebody who has a big persona. And there could be real skepticism of having him in the West Wing.”

Vance expressed concerns that Trump could become “America’s Hitler” years before becoming the former president’s staunch ally while launching his political career. He told Fox News last week that Trump had “not asked” him to be his running mate.

Griffin said that she suspected Trump would likely choose Burgum as his running mate, although Rubio represents the greatest “electoral” threat to Biden’s chances in November. Bookmakers have recently made the North Dakota governor a betting favorite.

“Honestly, my money’s starting to lean towards Burgum,” said Griffin. “He’s in many ways like [former Vice President] Mike Pence with a higher net worth. He’s somebody who’s not going to come crossways with Trump, he’s somebody who’s steady … And I think that the former president genuinely likes him.”

“From an electoral standpoint, I think Marco Rubio is the scariest for the Biden-Harris team,” she continued. “That’s somebody who could make inroads with Latinos … For sort of Trump-skeptical Republicans—they trust him, they know him—and that could bring them back into the fold.”

Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump’s office via email on Monday night.

Burgum challenged Trump for the Republican presidential nomination last year but dropped out of the race in December and endorsed the former president soon after.

While Burgum has said that he would have “no concerns at all” about serving under Trump, he has repeatedly refused to directly pitch his candidacy for vice president when asked in recent interviews.

“That’s up for President Trump to decide, and President Trump alone,” Burgum told Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum last week when asked about his potential future as Trump’s running mate. “He’s got a lot of great choices.”

Trump has already ruled out running alongside former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who was his closest competitor in this year’s GOP primary elections.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem also likely saw her chances for the position take a nose-dive earlier this year following controversy over her memoir, where she wrote of shooting her 14-month-old pet dog because it was “untrainable” and she considered it to be “less than worthless.”