Donald Trump is getting serious about his vice presidential search now that he's won the necessary delegates to earn the GOP nomination, and it sounds like there will be a strict "dudes only" policy. He isn't considering women or minorities as potential running mates. No, Trump reportedly wants a white guy.
Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort provided an eye-opening interview with The Huffington Post Wednesday and discussed Trump's prospects for VP. He said they weren't considering any women or minorities. "In fact, that would be viewed as pandering, I think," he said.
Never mind the fact that women actually comprise a larger segment of the voting population than men, according to the United States Census Bureau.
According to Manafort, Trump wants his running mate to be someone who is going to help him run the corporation that he wants the U.S to be. "He needs an experienced person to do the part of the job he doesn’t want to do," he said. "He seems himself more as the chairman of the board than even the CEO, let alone the COO."
If that lack of diversity seems like it might be off-putting to some voters who aren't, say, old white men, Trump isn't worried. "Our numbers even now are not that far out of whack," Manafort said. "We’re down 12 among women but up 20 among men." But it isn't Trump who has an issue with female or minority voters. It's his future opponent Hillary Clinton, according to Manafort.
"Hillary is the one who’s got a gender gap," Manafort said. "And while we are behind among women over all, we’re ahead among white women even now. We’ll get some black and Hispanic women as we go along."
In order to pick up enough black and Hispanic women for their creepy voter shopping cart, Trump knows he has to slightly soften his image. Voters can expect him to take a less aggressive stance on some topics in the future. "He operates by starting the conversation at the outer edges and then brings it back towards the middle," Manafort said. "Within his comfort zone, he’ll soften it some more."
But a wall is still totally happening. Manafort said, "That is a core thing with him."
