Trump says he doesn’t think any of the ‘job candidates’ in GOP debate will be his VP

Former President Trump blasted his GOP primary rivals for “running for a job” Wednesday, suggesting none of them are qualified to be his vice president.

“We’re competing with the job candidates, they’re all running for a job,” he said during his speech in Michigan amid the United Auto Workers strike Wednesday night. “No, they’re all job candidates. They want to be in the — they want to, they’ll do anything, secretary of something, they even say VP.”

“Does anybody see the VP in the group? I don’t think so,” he added.

Trump decided to skip the second GOP primary debate, instead opting to speak to autoworkers in Detroit as seven of his Republican challengers took to the stage in Simi Valley, Calif. A handful of candidates pointed out his absence on the debate stage, calling on him to show up to the next one. 

Despite the GOP hopefuls hoping to make a name for themselves on stage, Trump’s lead in the polls continues to grow stronger. Recent polls show him up by at least 40 points over his rivals, making it even more difficult for the other Republican candidates to catch up to him.

A top adviser to Trump’s campaign said Wednesday that the GOP should “end” the primary debates and focus their attention on defeating President Biden.

“The [Republican National Committee] should immediately put an end to any further primary debates so we can train our fire on Crooked Joe Biden and quit wasting time and money that could be going to evicting Biden from the White House,” Chris LaCivita said.  

While delivering the speech, Trump mostly focused on attacking Biden in the swing state of Michigan — which Biden flipped in 2020. He repeatedly tried to attack the sitting president for his policies on electric vehicles and said Biden’s reelection would hurt the auto industry more.

“The auto industry is being assassinated,” Trump said. “They’re going to be closing up and building those cars in China and other places.”

“It’s a hit job on Michigan,” he added.