Donald Trump has soured on Kari Lake as his potential running mate, and his advisers are cautioning him against her.
The failed Arizona governor candidate is still fighting her own election loss, and despite easily winning a straw poll Conservative Political Action Conference as Trump's vice presidential pick, her star has dimmed with the ex-president and his inner circle, reported The Daily Beast.
“She’s a shameless, ruthless demagogue who wants power and will do whatever she has to do to get it,” one Trump adviser said.
Two Trump advisers told the website that Trump is concerned that Lake comes across as a "spotlight hound," and the former president doesn't like that she has been "running around saying she should be VP.”
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“Tells you all you need to know that he did not make her his national spokeswoman,” one of those advisers said. “She was an obvious choice.”
The Trump campaign for now will keep Lake at arm's length, although her loyalty could be repaid after the election with a job as press secretary in a future administration.
“I think she is an effective surrogate, but I’m not sure she will be a VP pick,” said one operative close to the Trump campaign. “But who knows?”
Trump wants a running mate who would defend him well on TV appearances, one adviser said, but some of his allies have been encouraging him to consider how a potential VP pick might carry his legacy forward.
“He’s thinking about the terms afterward, and he knows now more than ever that the United States cannot be led by a mealy-mouthed establishment Republican,” said one Trump adviser.
Although she may not have an official role in the Trump campaign, she reportedly has been spending more time at Mar-a-Lago than Melania Trump.
“Kari Lake is there all the time,” a source told People magazine. “There’s a suite there that she practically lives in.”
