RALEIGH, N.C. — Donald Trump does not easily share a stage. But on Tuesday night, at a rally in North Carolina, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee invited a guest to stand at the lectern in front of him.
The invitee was Sen. Bob Corker, of Tennessee, who was said to be among the Republican lawmakers being vetted by Trump’s team as a vice presidential nominee. Corker’s remarks lasted just more than two minutes, but it seemed to be an audition, the first of what appears to be a series as Trump considers the most consequential decision of his young political career. (Corker has since told The Washington Post that he removed himself from contention in a private discussion with Trump on Tuesday.)
On Wednesday, Trump will appear in Cincinnati with Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and an informal adviser to the candidate. Gingrich, who has also been asked to submit vetting documents and is a fierce defender of the candidate on cable news shows, is admired by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and daughter Ivanka, but he has not had the opportunity to appear in public with the candidate until now.
Trump’s approach to choosing a vice president — publicly testing them in the court of public opinion — feels oddly similar to the approach the candidate took on his reality television show, “The Apprentice.” Moving away from his initial hope to unveil the running mate at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland starting July 18, Trump instead is maximizing the drama, and public attention, around his vice presidential selection process.
Instead of keeping meetings with contenders secret, Trump posts notices about them on Twitter and offers commentary afterward. And instead of quietly watching contenders over many months, Trump, who several elected Republicans are steering clear of campaigning with, is carrying out his selection process hastily before he chooses a running mate in the coming days.
“Given his history with beauty contests, maybe it’s no surprise Trump is conducting his VP search as a bit of a pageant,” said Nelson Warfield, a Republican strategist who worked on Sen. Bob Dole’s presidential campaign in 1996.
Warfield saw an upside to Trump’s public approach, adding: “It’s unconventional to be so public in vetting running-mate contenders, but it has generated the most favorable news coverage Trump has seen in weeks.”
At the North Carolina rally with Corker, the mood was warm, if perfunctory.
After Trump introduced the Tennessee senator as “a great friend of mine, somebody respected by everybody,” Corker strode out and raised his right arm in a wave before shaking hands with Trump as the two men embraced in a half-hug.
Then, Corker, who is noticeably shorter than Trump, reached up with both hands to pull the microphone down to his mouth before speaking.
“I just came to visit,” he said, to laughter, before quipping that “the rallies that I have back home aren’t quite like this. Pretty cool. Yeah. It’s unbelievable, isn’t it?”
As Corker spoke of meeting with two of Trump’s children, Ivanka and Eric, as well as his son-in-law, Kushner, Trump stood off to his right shoulder, looking down on him with his head cocked, and a mouth in a closed-lipped grin.
“I had the incredible privilege today to spend time with this man, to spend time with his family, and to spend time with those who know him so well,” Corker said.
Trump briefly rubbed Corker’s back as the crowd began chanting his name, and the senator quickly wrapped up. “I am taking up his time,” Corker concluded. “Let me just say this — the reason you love him so much is because he loves you. He loves you, and he wants the best for you.”
Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, then stood off to the side as Trump praised fallen Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for how he handled terrorism, drawing unwanted attention on one of the hardest days for his likely opponent in November, Hillary Clinton.
There is precedent for candidates testing how potential running mates fare on the stump. In 2012, Mitt Romney sized up the people he was considering for vice president as they took turns campaigning for and with him that spring. Romney and his ultimate choice, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, now the House speaker, had notable chemistry, bantering easily as they stopped at a Culver’s family restaurant for butter burgers and chocolate malts.
Clinton made a heavily publicized appearance last week in Ohio with Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who many progressives dream of seeing on the Democratic ticket.
And President George W. Bush presided over a running-mate search in 2000 that lasted for weeks and involved the leaking of names, much to the contenders’ chagrin, before choosing the man conducting the search, Dick Cheney.
But if the concept of road-testing candidates is familiar, the deeply public way in which Trump is going about it is not. Candidates and their campaigns typically go to great lengths to keep secret the list of people being considered.
Trump, by contrast, is employing his favorite medium, Twitter, stoking as much anticipation as possible.
“I look forward to meeting @joniernst today in New Jersey. She has done a great job as a Senator of Iowa!” Trump posted Monday.
Earlier that day, Trump wrote on Twitter that he had spent “time with Indiana Governor Mike Pence and family yesterday. Very impressed, great people!” In another message, he praised Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, whose name has been floated by conservatives as a possible choice.
“The method by which he’s doing it is not typically how people do it,” said Steve Schmidt, a Republican strategist who served on Bush’s team and on Sen. John McCain’s presidential run in 2008.
Stephanie Cutter, a Democratic strategist and a veteran of Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004, recalled deep secrecy shrouding the choice. (Kerry wound up picking Sen. John Edwards.)
“Normally candidates like to consider their VP selections privately so that they can keep their options open and not defined by the people that they don’t pick,” she said. Being floated and then not chosen could be “demeaning” to the runners-up, she said.
Trump has already appeared publicly with Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, another contender, and the two have displayed a certain chemistry.
Trump’s interactions with Corker are still in their early stages. After their rally, voters said they found Corker solid, if a bit low energy.
Michael Wilson, 52, an undecided voter from Raleigh who works in financial services, said he thought the senator was “good and heartfelt.”
“I felt he connected with the folks here in North Carolina,” Wilson said. “Is he that charismatic? Probably not. That’s not the guy’s style, right? He’s a behind-the-scenes guy, he’s a policy guy. So, you know, he’s going to need that along the way.”
John Caldwell, 58, a consultant from Durham and a Trump supporter, was less enthusiastic, calling Corker’s performance “subdued.” And he touched on a problem that any Trump running mate might face, appearing to shrink next to the larger-than-life nominee.
Corker, Caldwell said, “was not the main attraction.”
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