Ben Carson on Monday sought to close the door on serving as presumptive GOP White House nominee Donald Trump’s vice president or one of his Cabinet members.
“I would not want to be on the ticket or in the Cabinet,” Carson said on Fox Business Network’s “The Intelligence Report.” “I personally feel that I can be considerably more effective as an outside voice. I was an outside voice before all this started.”
{mosads}The retired neurosurgeon was the second 2016 GOP presidential hopeful to endorse Trump after dropping out, following New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
On Monday, Carson disputed the idea that picking a female or minority running mate is automatically a good call for Trump.
“I want an American, somebody who loves America,” told host Trish Regan. “I don’t care if they’re a man, woman, black, white, Asian, whatever. If they fit that description, they’re great with me. We have gotten so much into this identity politics thing.”
Carson added: “We need to move away from it and start thinking of ourselves as Americans who are all on the same boat.”
Reports emerged last Saturday that Trump’s campaign may begin vetting vice presidential options this week now that the billionaire appears set to lock up the nomination.
Carson told The Washington Post last week that shortlist contenders included Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Christie and Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
Trump has since debunked that list, noting that few, if any, of those names had caught his eye as suitable running mates.
Earlier this month, Carson apparently spoke out of turn when he suggested that Trump might even be open to a Democratic VP, an idea Trump quickly rejected.
Other Republican names floated include New Mexico Gov. Susanna Martinez, former Speaker Newt Gingrich, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Rep Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.