Here's how Trump is using 'liberal rationale' to choose V.P. pick: ex-GOP lawmaker

Donald Trump's team has railed against diversity measures championed by progressives, but is using that same logic to pick his potential vice president, a former Republican lawmaker said on Wednesday.

Former GOP representative Adam Kinzinger said that, by his count, there are approximately 15 individuals actively considered in the running to be Trump's right hand.

"By my reckoning, the one thing they have in common is their love for Trump, who has a lock on the party’s presidential nomination. One, Tim Scott, even declared, 'I just love you' as he gazed at the former president during a public event," the ex-lawmaker wrote. "It’s hard to imagine that anyone would exceed Scott’s a-s-kissing (please forgive the term) but J.D Vance gave it a try over the weekend. He said that Trump should ignore Supreme Court rulings he deems 'illegitimate.'"

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That being said, Kinzinger drew attention to how Trump's team is making its choice.

"As he offered his love and put Trump above himself in speaking to Fox, the groveling Scott, made himself a top contender in the eyes of the prominent former Trump advisor, Kellyanne Conway. And as Conway noted, he fits nicely into her profile for the perfect Veep, which calls for Trump to name 'a person of color' as his running mate," he continued Wednesday. "This narrows her field down to Scott and -- surprise! -- former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley who is the last challenger standing among those who challenged Trump in the primaries."

Kinzinger suggests that Haley is less likely to be chosen as a Veep considering her negative words against the former president, and then called into doubt the process itself.

"Conway’s opinion matters. She helped Trump pick his 2016 running mate, then-Indiana Governor Mike Pence. It was Pence’s appeal to the Christian Right that most likely gave him a win in 2016. This time around Trump has strong backing from conservative Christians so Scott would allow him a new option – namely appealing to Black Americans who have voted for Democrats longer than I have been alive," he wrote. "Oddly enough, as she leaned toward 'a person of color' Conway used a liberal rationale for favoring minorities called DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion.)"

He added, "DEI has been a bugbear for Republicans who consider it a kind of 'reverse racism' that penalizes one group. Nevertheless, person trumps policy in today’s Republican Party. Thus, on the basis of race, Scott meets the criteria for the old political saw, which calls on candidates to broaden their appeal by any means necessary."