Former President Donald Trump's vice presidential pick will undoubtedly dominate headlines when it's revealed.
In the meantime, a number of VP shortlisters have emerged, including Florida Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), who's generally well-received by Trump's supporters.
However, as everyone knows, Trump places a high value on loyalty, and some of Donalds' previous comments about the former president have resurfaced as his name is floated as a top contender for the VP job.
The comments, unsurprisingly, were reported by CNN and other left-leaning outlets bent on being as dramatic as possible in an attempt to stir up Trump's presidential campaign.
Donalds, who was once an active and outspoken member of the Tea Party movement over a decade ago, made several comments about Trump in 2011 and 2012.
Almost with glee, CNN boasted about how it "unearthed" several examples of Donalds taking shots at Trump at the time.
"Trump is a huge distraction, and cares more about himself than the country in my opinion, but I could care less about him,” Donalds wrote in a Facebook post in April 2011 when discussing Trump’s insistence that Obama's birth certificate was fake.
"I don’t question his religion or his citizenship," Donalds added. "Quite a few Democrats and liberals still think Bush caused 9/11."
In the same thread of posts attacking Trump, Donalds wrote, "Trump is a self-promoter yelling about 25% tariffs on China."
CNN noted:
Donalds is far from the only Republican vice-presidential contender to have criticized Trump in the past. Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance called Trump a “moral disaster” in direct messages from the summer of 2017 that were made public in 2021.
Justifiably, a spokesperson for Donalds responded to the CNN report, defending the congressman.
"President Trump is considering Byron as his running mate because of the Congressman’s steadfast support for the 45th President and his historic policy agenda. The fact that these decade-old posts are now resurfacing in the middle of running mate deliberations is weak but typical of CNN."
Donalds could be a valuable pick for the former president, as CNN noted:
But the Trump campaign views Donalds as among its most effective surrogates for the former president, one that could help him peel Black male voters from President Joe Biden.
Only time will tell if Trump overlooks Donalds' past comments.
